A larger number of carabineers and police officers will maintain public order on May 9. They will make sure that the legislation that bans the use of war symbols is obeyed. The police will not respond with provocations to provocations, while those who will disobey the law will have reports drawn against them by modern methods and will be punished, said Minister of Home Affairs Ana Revenco.

The official noted that the police will not allow the participants in the Victory Day events to wear symbols of the military aggression, which is letters V and Z and the ribbon of Saint George that are used as distinctive signs of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs will treat this day as a workday when there is a public holiday. This means that both carabineers and police officers will be more present in public places to maintain public order. We will make sure that the marches, demonstrations are staged without violating public safety. We hope anyone who will wear symbols banned by law on this day will take such a decision consciously and will assume the consequences. Definitely, the carabineers and the police will not respond with provocations to provocations and will firmly enforce the law,” Ana Revenco stated in the talk show “Thursday with Liliana Barbăroșie” on the public TV channel.

The minister noted the police will impose fines for the making, promotion or spreading of war symbols, as the law provides.

“There are modern documentation methods by which the people will be fined. First of all, there will be investigated the organizers, those who authorize such marches. The main task of the Ministry of the Interior is to ensure a calm social atmosphere. We will not respond to provocations, but those who will disobey the law will be penalized. Parliament adopted the law and the President of the Republic of Moldova promulgated it. The Ministry only enforces the law. We are obliged to make sure the law is obeyed immediately after it takes effect,” said Ana Revenco.

In accordance with the law, the promotion of the symbols of the Russian military aggression is punished with fines of 4,500 to 9,000 lei in the case of private individuals and of up to 30,000 lei in the case of legal entities and persons with responsible posts. MPs of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists challenged the law in the Constitutional Court, arguing this encroaches on the right to freedom of opinion and expression.