The Committee of the National Resistance Movement ACUM demands that the MP of the Democratic Party Valentina Buliga, whom they accuse of the conviction of Moldova by the ECHR, should tender her resignation. In an event staged in front of the Parliament Building, protesters reminded that the Government of Moldova was obliged to pay €7,680 to a pensioner from Glodeni because this was admitted to a psychiatric hospital by force after he in 2014 slapped Valentina Buliga, who was then minister of labor, IPN reports.
The protesters demanded to investigate the actions of all those involved in this case, including the prosecutor who sked for the psychiatrist examination of the pensioner, the judge who accepted this request, the lawyer who agreed with the prosecutor’s request and the court judgment, the police officers who lied to the pensioner by saying they will take him to the police station, but took him to the psychiatric hospital and the doctors who concluded that the pensioner suffered from mental disorders.
The Committee of the National Resistance Movement ACUM said the damages awarded to the pensioner should be paid back into the state budget by the persons who are to blame for the fact that Moldova was convicted.
Sergiu Litvinenko, a member of the Standing Bureau of the Party “Action and Solidarity”, noted that all the state institutions that handled this case violated the law and the European Convention on Human Rights. This case shows that a citizen is practically deprived of rights when this comes in contact with a person of the regime and can be jailed or admitted to a psychiatric hospital without enjoying the elementary right to defense. “Valentina Buliga does not have the moral right to serve as an MP and be the representative of the people,” he stated.
“Missis Buliga lied when she said that she tried to forgive that man, but the prosecutor refused. A criminal case is started based on an application. If she had wanted very mush to discuss with that innocent man, who was provoked to react how he reacted, she wouldn’t have submitted the application and this would have been a gesture. It is rather the rulers who should receive psychiatric treatment,” stated Kiril Moţpan, secretary general of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth”.
According to the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Viorel Cibotaru, the given case is symptomatic and reveals first of all the failure of the whole political and justice systems of Moldova. “It is a system error and the whole system is responsible,” he noted.
Valentina Buliga didn’t answer the phone to comment for IPN on the protest mounted by ACUM and the protesters’ demand to resign. In a comment for PRO TV channel, the MP said those who protest should know the procedures as not she, but the competent institutions examined the case and this was a case of violence against a women, no matter who she was. “It is shameful and dishonorable to use this incident in a dirty and political struggle. How is Valentina Buliga related to all this? Did I investigate the case? Did I assess the situation and the incident? I will not comment on the decision taken by the ECHR,” she stated.
The Government of the Republic of Moldova was obliged to pay €7,680 damages to a pensioner from Glodeni, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital by force as a result of an incident that occurred in May 2014. He then slapped the then minister of labor Valentina Buliga, who now serves as a Member of Parliament on behalf of the Democratic Party. It happened when the minister was having a meeting with inhabitants of Glodeni district. The pensioner, dissatisfied with his low pension, asked the minister about the pension calculation method. Valentina Buliga answered that his pension was rather high and asked ironically if the plaintiff really understood the meaning of the words used by him in his question. The man got angry and slapped the minister. After the incident, the pensioner was sued for hooliganism. On July 2, 2014, at the prosecutor’s request, the Glodeni District Court ordered to subject the man to a stationary medical-psychiatric examination. Later the man was arrested by a group of five police officers and taken to the Chișinău Psychiatric Hospital, where he was kept for over seven days.