The closure on October 26 of the criminal case on the death of LDPR parliamentarian Ion Butmalai was an unlawful act that has already been challenged with the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Butmalai family’s lawyer Anna Ursachi stated at a news conference at Infotag on Tuesday.

 

Ursachi stated that the parliamentarian’s numerous relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbors etc., whom the defense mobilized to act as witnesses, are categorically rejecting the supposition of Butmalai’s suicide.

 

“We now believe that the investigation into the December 9, 2014 atrocity has arrived at contradictory and ambiguous conclusions. As for the decision to close down the Butmalai case, it was taken by the order of oligarchs Vlad Filat and Vlad Plahotniuc, who used to jointly control all political process in Moldova until recently”, said the lawyer.

 

According to her, the text of the conclusion on closing down the case contains references to various forensic examinations abounding in evasive formulations, ambiguities and obscurities, and complaints against the imperfectness of technical equipment.

 

“The expert made a conclusion, used as the basis for closing the case, that Ion Butmalai allegedly committed a suicide because he had been excluded from the LDPM ticket for parliamentary election, due to which he was allegedly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. That conclusion was based on a posthumous psychiatric-psychological examination. But such kind of researches can be undertaken only with respect to a person who took treatment or was observed by a psychiatrist, neurologist or psychotherapist – on the basis of the patient’s clinical history. But Ion Butmalai was a mentally healthy man aged 50, who had never addressed to such specialists. So, there exist no documents that could cast doubt on his mental sanity. So, how could the expert make such a conclusion?” wondered Anna Ursachi.

 

The lawyer drew the journalists’ attention to yet one more omission by the investigators from Cahul town.

 

“There is evidence given by Butmalai family members saying that in the latest period of his live the parliamentarian communicated with then-leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party – Vlad Filat and Iurie Leanca, including by telephone, SMS messages etc. Why didn’t the investigators interrogate Leanca, Filat and particularly Vlad Plahotniuc, whom Ion Butmalai criticized in public repeatedly and harshly? Moreover, Butmalai criticized Plahotniuc many a time from the Parliament’s rostrum. I know that there existed a file that contained documents and descriptions of the criminal siphoning off money from the country. We couldn’t find that file anywhere. Why didn’t the investigation scrutinize thas line?” asked the lawyer.

 

Anna Ursachi fingered at yet another very alarming circumstance: a month before Butmalai’s death, a very close friend of his, parliamentarian Ivan Ionas, passed away under also very strange circumstances, “but the investigation did not care. Why?”

 

The lawyer stated that the prosecutors’ decision to close down the Butmalai case does not hold water whatever, “and it shall be challenged at higher judicial instances by using all possible legal means”.

 

Infotag’s dossier: On December 9, 2014 MP Ion Butmalai was found dead in the garage of his house in Cahul town. On the same day, the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Head of the MoI National Investigation Inspectorate, Ion Bodrug, stated to the press the parliamentarian had committed a suicide. However, many people regarded the MoI story as inconsistent because two cartridge cases were found near the dead body.

 

Ion Butmalai was known for his stiff accusations against some Moldovan politicians. Shortly before the November 30 parliamentary elections, the parliamentarian (who was not included into the LDPM ticket for the 2014 polls) stated in public several times that he was going to convene a news conference and make loud disclosures at it.

 

…AND REPORTS ATTEMPTED INFECTING OF GRIGORE PETRENCO WITH TB

 

“Our Home is Moldova” (OHM) party leader Grigore Petrenco, kept in Chisinau prison №13 on charges of organizing massive protests since September 6, was subjected to an attempted infecting with tuberculosis, said lawyer Anna Ursachi at Infotag on Tuesday.

 

She said that a prison officers warned Petrenco that in the open-air promenade yard, where he is allowed to stay 60 minutes per day, that during the last few weeks only TB patients have been permitted to take walks there. According to Ursachi, Petrenco already several days refuses to leave his cell.

 

Ursachi regards such conditions of detention as inhuman and humiliating treatment. She reminded that in one of the last Sundays, a search has been conducted in Petrenco’s cell.

 

“The search was organized not by the prison authorities, but by officers of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, which was possible only by the personal order of Department Director Alexandru Pinzari. Petrenco was prohibited to use the device for heating the food, which is allowed in majority of cells. All the prison officers were strictly ordered not to alleviate Petrenco’s detention regime. All the lawlessness started when Pinzari was appointed as Head of the Department”, the lawyer said.