Experts approve of the November 14 raids performed by the Security and Information Service (SIS) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), as a result of which a number of persons were arrested, including members of “Antifa” movement who are suspected of preparing public disorder actions that were to be staged after the November 30 parliamentary elections. The opinions were stated in the program “Fabrika” on Publika TV channel IPN reports.
CREDO Center director Sergiu Ostaf said that if the given persons were preparing violent acts of a destabilizing character that have nothing to do with peaceful protests, the intervention of the law enforcement bodies was justified. “The penal legislation punishes not only the offense, but also the attempts to commit an offense. The SIS and the PGO will have to present arguments to prove that the operation was justified,” he stated.
Former SIS employee Ion Leahu said a new “Aril 7” scenario was prepared for being carried out on December 1 and 2 if particular political forces that “Antifa” supports wouldn’t have accumulated the expected number of votes. “In order to perform searches, the investigating body must have reasonable suspicions and certain evidence. It’s known that “Antifa” is a radical and anarchical movement that does not recognize the state institutions,” he stated.
Researcher of the Academy of Sciences Victor Juc said the actions taken by the law enforcement bodies were unordinary, but justified. “The stake of the November 30 parliamentary elections is great. The law enforcement bodies reacted justly as this movement was hatching a coup and wanted to oust the government from power even last November, when the senior state officials attended the ceremony to initial the Association Agreement in Vilnius. “Antifa” probably planned violent acts for a long period and intends to stage them now in order to defend the interests of the party on whose list of candidates the movement’s leader Grigore Petrenco was included,” he stated.
The program’s permanent invitee Cristian Tabara said “Antifa” has well-organized bodies at international level and is characterized by violent acts of a destabilizing character. As an argument, he showed videos of this movement’s acts in Poland and Latin America.
IPN notes that on a social networking site, Grigore Petrenco expresses his indignation at the arrest of one of the activists of “Antifa” Pavel Grigorciuc, a former komsomole leader and a person close to Petrenco. He is accused of preparing mass disorder events and faces four to eight years in jail.
Petrenco, who was earlier one of the heavyweights of the Communist Party, left this party last summer. He is among the top ten candidates for MP of the Party “Motherland”, who are headed by businessman Renato Usatyi. Afterward, Usatyi threatened the leaders of the government coalition that if he is removed from the electoral race, he will mount protests to show what democracy and European integration are. The antifascist organization “Antifa” wasn’t registered with the Ministry of Justice.
