Twenty deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are demanding an immediate release from custody of the activists of the Antifa [anti-fascist] organization and Patria Party, ex-Communist MP Grigore Petrenco, who is an incumbent Deputy Chairperson of the Unified European Left group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, announced at a news conference at Infotag today, and showed a copy of the European parliamentarians’ statement.

 

In the document, Pavel Grigorciuc, Mikhail Amerberg, Cornel Moraru and Nicolae Tipovici have been called Moldova’s political prisoners.

 

The PACE members maintain that any victimization of civil society activists or opposition politicians for political reasons is impermissible in a democratic society.

 

The parliamentarians requested Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks to pay attention to the persecution and detention of the said Moldova citizens and to how democratic freedoms are observed in Moldova.

 

Petrenco drew the press attention to the fact that the statement was signed by PACE deputies from 14 countries representing four PACE groups.

 

He believes the European colleagues are absolutely right because the Moldovan authorities are persecuting e.g. Pavel Grigorciuc and Mikhail Amerberg on the basis of ridiculous accusations – political posters found with them.

 

“As for the Antifa activists, there is nothing against them, no evidence – absolutely. Nevertheless they have been behind bars for three months already – just as “a preventive measure”. To put it simpler, this is how the authorities, in the person of oligarchs Vlad Plahotniuc and Vlad Filat, intimidate the opposition and all those who are not afraid of exposing the two gentlemen openly and loudly”, said Grigore Petrenco.

 

He presumes that if the authorities do not pay attention to this statement by the deputies of the influential European structure, “this will mean that Moldova has not at all a democratic system of governance but an authoritarian regime of oligarchic clans who have made courts and the prosecution system an obedient weapon in their hands”.

 

Grigore Petrenco said that by the end of this week, an appeal will be prepared, on the basis of the European parliamentarians’ statement, to all relevant Moldovan law enforcement agencies with a demand to immediately free the 4 political prisoners.

 

Infotag’s dossier: The Patria Party is the Republic of Moldova’s youngest political formation, registered with the Ministry of Justice on September 12, 2014. It was withdrawn from the parliamentary campaign only 2 days before the voting day on charges of “non-transparent campaign financing” and of “using foreign money”.