Chisinau, March 28 (Infotag). The leader of the Acţiunea Europeană [European Action] socio-political movement Anatol Petrenco and Literatura şi Arta editor, writer Nicolae Dabija have voiced indignation about the accusation Chisinau municipal police had brought against them.

Dabija stated at a news conference in Infotag today that on March 25 the Democratic Forum of the Romanians of Moldova (DFRM) organized a conference on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of the historic unification of Bessarabia and Romania. The organizers invited historian Petrenco to take part in the event and present a report on the important historic event.

The writer said, “Petrenco left the conference yet before it was over. After the forum, we all went to the Stefan cel Mare monument to lay flowers. At that moment, my daughter called me saying the police were looking for me”.

He said the police found him without problem, and the writer was shocked to hear from them that he had allegedly knocked down 2 pedestrians in the Botanica community, and drove away from the accident site.

“But I have neither a car nor even a driving license. Yes on March 25 I traveled around the city in a Volga car, but we did not go to Botanica. On Tuesday, we were summoned to the Sectorul Buiucani police commissariat, where we heard totally different charges: we were told that by arranging such conferences, we undermine the statehood of the Republic of Moldova”, said Nicolae Dabija.

The police accused both gentlemen of holding an unsanctioned rally at laying flowers to the Stefan cel Mare monument, but Petrenco maintained he had not been near the monument then, so he could not take part in the flower ceremony.

“The plainclothes police officers must have mistaken me for somebody else because at that very moment I was far from that place. Nonetheless, they put forward the charges against me”, Petrenco said.

Both men perceived the events as a signal that a dictatorship is being established in Moldova. They questioned, “Isn’t it strange that when people lay flowers to the monument of Lenin every November 7 [anniversary of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia] and February 23 [the Soviet Army Day] nobody detains them, but those who mark the March 27 anniversary or other Romanian holidays are persecuted, arrested and brought to stand court?”

Petrenco and Dabija are convinced that all the detentions were made by order of the authorities “who are losing soil under their feet, so they are losing brains, too”.

Court hearings on the ‘Petrenco and Dabija case’ were scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.