{"id":443349,"date":"2017-01-26T21:58:50","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T21:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=443349"},"modified":"2017-01-26T21:58:50","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T21:58:50","slug":"23-european-deputies-ask-moldova-stop-persecution-key-witnesses-vlad-plahotniuc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/23-european-deputies-ask-moldova-stop-persecution-key-witnesses-vlad-plahotniuc\/","title":{"rendered":"23 European deputies ask Moldova to stop persecution of key witnesses against Vlad Plahotniuc"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

A letter signed by 23 lawmakers representing their countries in the Council of Europe ask for the stop of political oppression against civil society and key witnesses, reports Ziarul de Gard\u0103<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The call regards the attempts of the Moldovan Government to silence opposition and civil society representatives, such as Ana Ursachi, Eduard Rudenco, Grigore Petrenco<\/a>, with defamatory media campaigns and criminal cases, politicized by the Democrat oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. Moreover, the supporters of the former liek StarNet Telecom and its owner Alexandru Machedon reportedly faced oppression too for supporting JurnalTV, an opposition media outlet.<\/p>\n

The deputies draw attention on the politically motivated trial against Veaceslav Platon (Kobalev)<\/a>, a witness in a possible case against Plahotniuc on the theft of one billion from the Moldovan banks, as well as the charges on Sergiu Cibotari, a former employee of Moldovan Post Service who reported about a criminal case on Plahotniuc’s proxies.<\/p>\n

The deputies from Austria, Estonia, Jordan, Greece, Germany, Turkey, Latvia, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Czechia and Lithuania call on the Moldovan authorities to stop political reprisals, reminding that human rights and democracy in Moldova is closely monitored by the Council of Europe. The European officials mention that one of the key priorities of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement is to increase transparency in the implementation of anti-corruption reform and the protection of human rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n