The organizations that form part of the network of regional NGOs for combating torture met in Comrat at the first working meeting in Gagauzia and at the third meeting of the network. The meeting involved representatives of organizations based on Comrat, Rybnitsa, Tiraspol, Bender, Chisinau, Balti and other regions of Moldova, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Comrat-based Institute for Democracy.
Institute for Democracy president Andrei Borshevski said the Department of Penitentiary Institutions responded positively to the proposal to hold sessions in penitentiaries to inform about the inadmissibility of using torture and bad treatment. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection accepted to organize seminars in the managed institutions.
Transnistrian NGOs’ representatives who took part in the meeting were surprised by the Transnistrian authorities’ openness, saying this remains a dream for the Transnistrian region. The Transnistrian NGOs practically do not have access to local jails and the administration categorically opposes projects aimed at combating torture.
In the meeting, the representative of the Center of Legal, Psychological and Rehabilitation Assistance for Torture Victims of Comrat spoke about the legal aspects of the fight against torture and the relations between the state authorities and the police in Gagauzia. This quoted statistics concerning the Center’s activity, noting that 137 persons complained to the Center about the use of torture and ill-treatment.
The participants also discussed the small grants program of the project. Luiza Doroshenko, director of the Transnistria Media Center and project coordinator in the Transnistrian region, shared her experience in cooperating with partner organizations from the right bank of the Nistru, saying other NGOs from the Transnistrian region can also use their experience.
Alexandru Zubko, head of the Torture Prevention Division of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Moldova, presented the goal and objectives of the Division, the experience in fighting torture and the Ombudsman’s role in this process to the network members.
Nonna Mihalcean, coordinator of the project in Chisinau, spoke about the particularities of the project’s prevention activities, namely informative seminars intended for employees of penitentiaries in Moldova, saying the attendees included jail deputy heads, officers and guards. The participants were told about the accountability for the use of torture at national and international levels and about how these harsh acts can be prevented.
The network of regional NGOs was created by the Institute for Democracy of Comrat in partnership with the National Institute for Women of Chisinau and the Transnistria Media Center of Tiraspol with the EU’s support through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights as part of the project “We will all together say no to torture in Moldova: civil society against torture”. The project is implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union and is coordinated by the public organization Institute for Democracy that was officially registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova in January 2007.
