ALDE Moldova chairwoman Arina Spătaru accuses Balti municipal councilor Iurie Beșliu of sexist and offensive language. The politician says that the municipal councilor aimed denigrating replies at her during a debate and demands that he should apologize publicly to her. Arina Spătaru believes that the passivity of state institutions in relation to such cases discourages women from getting involved in politics.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, the ALDE head said that during a debate held on June 13 in the studio of a Balti media portal, she was verbally abused by the PAS member of the Balti Municipal Council Iurie Besliu. Arina Spătaru demands that the municipal councilor should publicly apologize to her and says that the failure to penalize such behavior increasingly disarms women willing to get involved in politics.
“In a democracy, towards which we tend, it is very important to have many parties. And Iurie Beșliu, through his arrogant and demeaning behavior, suggested that the other parties, the other opinions no longer matter. Only the PAS matters and only the PAS is Europe. Iurie Beșliu’s behavior instigates hatred through sexist speech, through demeaning speech, through which a woman is attacked. This creates preconditions for the women not to become involved in politics. Why do we have legislation that requires the presence of women on electoral rolls if there are such stories and they are seen by other women? We have many good women who could get involved in politics, but they, when they see the cases that I or other colleagues or civic activists, journalists are experiencing, they don’t want to get involved in politics anymore,” stated said Arina Spătaru.
The politician accuses some of the representatives of the government of using the administrative resource, NGOs and media subservient to the power to denigrate their political opponents.
“Women know one more thing, that such behavior is not penalized by any court. If this man had been afraid of the state institutions, of the fact that the police would penalize him, of the fact that the Equality Council would intervene (he would not have acted like that). The journalist in the studio, who is a woman, did not intervene either. She knew that the debate was organized with European funds and, if she intervened, the funds could disappear. Because some of those from the PAS do exactly what they do: if you do not comply, they deprive you of financial resources,” said the chairwoman of ALDE Moldova.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were touched by the news items produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
