Media nongovernmental organizations called on Liberal MP Mihai Ghimpu to offer public apologies to the representatives of the mass media and to end the antidemocratic rhetoric in relation to journalists. Representatives of the NGOs signed a statement by which they express their bewilderment at the recent statements made by the Liberal Party’s leader on a TV channel. This said that Jurnal TV channel should have been closed long ago and he does not know why the Broadcasting Coordination Council takes no steps in this regard, IPN reports.

According to the signatories, Mihai Ghimpu noted that the journalists are also to blame for the ‘theft of the century’ because less money would have been stolen if the press had been more active. This is not the first attack by Mihai Ghimpu on the media outlets and journalists. In January 2013, the politician accused the press of staging a denigrating campaign against him and verbally insulted Alina Turcanu.

During a meeting with students in February 2013, the Liberals’ leader pushed the microphone of Jurnal TV and affronted the journalists, accusing them of working against him and against the truth. In 2015, Mihai Ghimpu pulled away the microphone from the hands of a journalist of Jurnal TV, refusing to answer the questions about the protests mounted in the Great National Assembly Square.

“The signatory organizations are indignant at Mihai Ghimpu’s indefinable attitude, which is inappropriate for a politician, especially an MP of the parliamentary alliance, who says that he is a supporter of the European values and freedoms,” says the statement.

The statement was signed by the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Center “Acces – Info”, the Association of Independent Telejournalists and the Electronic Press Association.