Anna Ursachi, the lawyer of “Our Home is Moldova” (OHM) party leader Grigore Petrenco and his 6 party comrades, all being in custody since September 6, maintains that by the order of all-mighty Vlad Plahotniuc, horrifying measures are being taken against her client.

 

Anna Ursachi said at a news conference at Infotag on Thursday that on the New Year eve, three members of the Petrenco group, including Grigore himself, were subjected to new measures of psychological pressure.

 

“Pavel Grigorciuc, suffering of chronic bronchial asthma, and Alexander Rosco were re-dislocated into underground cells of remand prison #13. These cells are wet. They have no heating but have many black beetles running everywhere. Grigorciuc’s cell has no watch, so he cannot know when the New Year will come. As for Petrenco, yesterday the prison administration hang up an additional huge padlock on his cell door, and the padlock key is with the officer, whose service place is in the opposite end of the prison. Now imagine something extraordinary happens, for instance fire, or another disaster, or something wrong with health, and there is only one person who can help Petrenco out of his cell – the said faraway officer. I guess you will agree that the inmate has been in an additional psychological pressing, when he realizes all this”, said the lawyer.

 

Anna Ursachi maintains that all these inhuman actions were undertaken by the direct order of Acting Director of the Ministry of Justice Penitentiary Department Alexandru Pinzari, who was appointed to this post from the Democratic Party, and “who is Vlad Plahotniuc’s personal placeman”.

 

“The oligarch will celebrate his 50th anniversary on January 1. So, his devoted servants are doing all in their powers to make their master happier. I regard all these actions as an inhuman, barbaric treatment that verges on torturing”, stated the lawyer.

 

According to her, prison director Valeriu Starii has assured her that he has no relation to all these actions, and that he will investigate into them.

 

Infotag’s dossier: On September 6, OHM Chairman Grigore Petrenco (who was a member of the previous Moldovan Parliament and an ex-Deputy Chairperson of the PACE Unified European Left group) and eight OHM activists were arrested for 30 days “for organization of unrest”. On that day, they brought tens of their supporters for an action of protest before the Prosecutor General’s Office. The police did not let them approach the Office doors. A noisy scuffle broke out, in which 6 cops were slightly injured. The Ministry of the Interior put the entire responsibility for the incident on the protesters. But their lawyers are insisting on the opposite scenario.