​MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT STANDS AGAINST PUNISHING CITIZENS FOR USING COMMUNIST SYMBOLS

At its ordinary working meeting on Wednesday, the Moldovan Government approved the cancellation of legislation provisions stipulating punishments for using “the totalitarian communist regime symbols [the Sickle and the Hammer and any carrier of such symbols] as well as for “propaganda of totalitarian ideologies”.

Deputy Minister of Justice Sabina Cerbu said at the government meeting that although the Constitutional Court has long recognized these restrictions as unconditional, a number of laws keep prohibiting the using of the Communist symbols and envisage punishments for them.

“We suggest canceling corresponding provisions in the Law on Political Parties, in the Code of Administrative Offences and in the Law on the Freedom of Expression. The persons who were punished during the period of the validity of this legislation shall be rehabilitated, and the courts must stop examining such cases”, said the deputy minister.

Infotag’s dossier: The Law on prohibiting Communist propaganda was adopted by the Moldovan Parliament on July 12, 2012. The document stipulated fines up to 3,000 lei on individuals and up to 10,000 lei on legal entities for using the symbols. A year later, on June 4, 2013, the Constitutional Court recognized that Law as non-constitutional. However, during the law validity period, a number of representatives of the Communist Party and the Komsomol [communist youth league] were fined for using the prohibited symbols.