OP HUNGER STRIKERS IN BALTI CITY HALL ARE RESOLUTE TO CONTINUE THEIR STRUGGLE

The Balti Municipal Council members representing the Partidul Nostru [Our Party], who went on a hunger strike on Monday, are not going to give up their demands.

The 21 OP Councilors, who have resorted to such a radical method of protest, want to draw the international partners’ attention to “the lawlessness practiced by the incumbent Moldovan authorities all over the country, and in particular in the country’s second-largest city of Balti”.

OP Deputy Chairperson Elena Gritco stated to journalists that the OP Councilors chose such a step fully consciously “because they are exhausted of the constant pressure put on them by the Chisinau-directed law enforcement”.

“Our families, children, old parents are threatened and intimidated. We hope that European and other international organizations will at last hear us and show interest to what is going on outside the Moldovan capital city”, stated Elena Gritco.

According to Municipal Councilor Eugenia Badiuc, a school teacher by her main occupation, the representatives of the ruling Democratic Party came to her and threatened that one of her parents, an employee of a state-run industrial enterprise, shall be fired if only she does not give up her political stance and activities.

“They threatened to start a criminal litigation against me for my alleged violence against schoolchildren”, stated Badiuc.

“The Democrats are visiting our homes, and are coming to our colleagues. They are threatening us via our children and relatives. They have been given a task to split up and annihilate the OP faction in the Balti Municipal Council like they did in Chisinau, where the Democrats appointed their puppet acting mayor [Silvia Radu]. Those Councilors who have children over 18 years old are warned not to be surprised if the police find drugs in the children’s pockets or bags one fine day”, said OP Councilor Nicolai Grigorisin.

The OP Councilors are continuing their hunger strike in a room in the Balti Primaria [city government]. They sleep on air beds and don’t eat anything, though drink water. The OP faction of 26 is a majority force in the 35-member Municipal Council of Balti.