The Ministry of Justice (MJ) creates impediments to the NGOs that discomfort authorities, and favours those that cooperate with the power in destroying the civil society. This statement was made at a press conference on Thursday, January 25, by Stefan Uratu, chairman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova (HCHRM). The Ministry of Justice denied the allegations.
Uratu stated that in late June the General Assembly of the Committee made several amendments to the statute of the organisation. These were subsequently submitted to the MJ for registration, but the Ministry gave a negative response, alleging that the one-month term set for their presentation had expired.
Teo Carnat, executive director of HCHRM, stated that after more than two weeks of attempts to find the person in charge within the Ministry, they were presented with a regulation which included the list of documents that the Committee had to file, without specifying the one-month term. As Carnat says, MJ set forth this reason on purpose, so as to hinder the HCHRM activity and push it towards internal disputes.
As Carnat says, the NGOs in Moldova are divided into two categories: organisations obedient to the government that function in order to show the West that Moldova has a civil society the government is willing to cooperate with, and organisations that serve as watchdogs and criticise the negative actions of the authorities.
HCHRM sued the MJ’s refusal, and on December 20 the Court of Appeals ordered the Ministry to register the respective amendments till January 24.
Head of the press service from MJ Anatol Simionov told Info-Prim Neo that HCHRM submitted the documents concerning the amended statute on August 25, although the assembly was held in June. According to the legislation, the papers should have been presented within one month after their approval. Referring to the allegations of the HCHRM members against MJ, Simionov said that they are groundless - there are neither arguments nor proofs in this respect. According to the same source, MJ appealed the decision of the Court of Appeals in the higher court.
