RUSSIA'S INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE APPLIES FOR ARREST OF VLAD PLAHOTNIUC

The Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation has put forward murder charges against the Chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova Vlad Plahotniuc and has filed with the Basmannii Court of Moscow a petition for Plahotniuc's arrest in absentia, Russian publications Rosbalt and Life.ru reported on Wednesday.

According to their sources in Russian law enforcement agencies, the materials of the case are saying that "Plahotniuc has murdered more than 2 persons with a particular atrocity, acting within an organized criminal group, on the motives of political, ideological, racial and national hatred". This case is related to the attempted assassination of Russian banker Gherman Gorbuntsov undertaken in London in March 2012, the sources said.

The performer of that crime, Vitalie Proca, was detained in Moscow and extradited to Romania, where he was wanted for committing yet another murder attempt. A few weeks ago, Proca gave a big interview to JurnalTV channel of Chisinau, stating that the murder of banker Gorbuntsov had been ordered by Vlad Plahotniuc. Experts presume that on the basis of that statement, too, the criminal litigation was started against Plahotniuc in Russia.

The above-mentioned two publications are referring to the words of a Gherman Gorbuntsov's friend who says he has no idea about the starting of whatever lawsuit against Plahotniuc.

"In due time, we tried to make the Russian Investigation Committee start a lawsuit on the attempted assassination of Gherman Gorbuntsov in London but the Committee said no. Himself Gorbuntsov does not believe that Vlad Plahotniuc could have a relation to the assassination attempt because they did not have any conflicts", said the friend.

Sources in Russian law enforcement agencies refused to provide information about the investigation progress, and only said the crimes in question had been committed outside Russia. This circumstance is proving the suppositions that the case has a relation to Gherman Gorbuntsov and Vitalie Proca.

Democratic Party press secretary Vitalie Gamurari stated the party leadership had no idea about the information that appeared in the press.

"We have no idea about the starting of a lawsuit in Russia against DP Chairman Vlad Plahotniuc. Most probably, this is one of the numerous information fakes of the recent time against the DP leader Vlad Plahotniuc, including fakes from Moscow. They are directly related to his political activities and are aimed to intimidate him. The current year has already seen several attempts to initiate litigations in Russia against Moldovan officials. Moldova condemned those actions. We regard them to be political blackmail against the Democratic Party and its leader as well as against the governing coalition in Moldova", said Vitalie Gamurari.