On Press Freedom Day, marked on May 3, the Chisinau Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the authors of a journalistic investigation and a number of publications, sued by Rezina Town Hall. According to the Investigative Journalism Centre (CIN), the journalists Tudor Iascenco, Cornelia Cozonac and Victor Sofroni have described in the investigative report titled “Government in Rezinean Style”, published in September 2006, a series of abuses committed by the functionaries of Rezina Town Hall. They were tacitly supported by the town Council when privatising several local buildings, auctioned off at very low prices. After publishing the report, mayor of Rezina town, Mihail Cut, and another two citizens brought a suit against the investigation’s authors and the newspapers “Cuvantul” (Rezina) and “Ziarul de Garda”, which published the article, for defamation. The plaintiffs claimed that the facts exposed in the article are not true and demanded their refutation and moral damages. Mihail Cut requested from “Cuvantul” publication USD 300,000 (about 3.7 mln lei), while the two citizens – 5,000 and respectively 15,000 lei. Mayor of Rezina Mihail Cut has also invoked in the petition the fact that the honour and dignity of Rezina Town Hall were damaged as well”. Rezina judges ruled in favour of the investigation’s authors and the plaintiffs appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeals, which has also considered that the journalists are right. The judgment of the Court of Appeal can be sued within the terms stipulated by legislation at the Supreme Court of Justice. Over the past three years, CIN won as many as 15 lawsuits initiated against certain state institutions that refused to give the journalists information of public interest.