“Our Home is Moldova” (OHM) party leader Grigore Petrenco maintains that the Moldovan police struggle not so much against crime but rather against opposition forces and politicians by spying and victimizing them.

 

Petrenco told a news conference at Infotag today that on Wednesday, when OHM activists were sticking party posters in the Buiucani sector of Chisinau, they were photographed by a man in black police uniform without insignia but with a pistol hanging on his belt.

 

“A few minutes before, the guy was tearing off OHM posters – right on the activists’ eyes. When candidates for Chisinau Municipal Council tried to learn his name and position, the man jumped into a police car (license plates MAI 1046) and blocked car doors from the inside. He did not answer a single question of ours. Minutes later, other police cars began gathering on the site. The officers’ faces were not promising anything good for us”, said Grigore Petrenco.

 

When the activists started asking about the man’s name, grade and position, one cop said that the man was from the Special Operations Department of the Ministry of the Interior. And the other cop said that no, the guy was from the Fulger task-force battalion.

 

“To my great regret, many of our police officers do things and fulfill somebody’s orders that have no relation to their official duties but receive salaries that are formed with citizens’ taxes. Moreover, they appear to have no idea about an elementary thing – the law! Look, several police officers were ignorant about the fact that a candidate may be detained by police only upon a blessing by an election commission concerned. But they didn’t care. They tried to take me, a candidate for Chisinau Mayor, over to a police commissariat – along with OHM activists.

 

Petrenco promised he would describe the incident in detail in a letter he will send to OSCE/ODIHR election observers.

 

He demanded from Minister of the Interior Oleg Balan to stop issuing orders on persecution and even shadowing opposition party representatives.

 

“Mind your own business. For instance, find those who burned down OHM banners in the sectors of Botanica and Buiucani. At both places, there are surveillance cameras. It is noteworthy that the banners were made of a material that cannot be lit up with matches or a lighter – only with a bottle with an incendiary liquid. So there is a real job for the police to carry out. But they would not care to detain anybody until now”, said Grigore Petrenco.