The Prosecutor General’s Office sent to court a criminal case involving nine detainees of Pruncul penitentiary No.16, who are accused of blackmail and creating a criminal organization, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the institution. According to prosecutors, the nine prisoners form part of a criminal organization headed by convict Vladimir Moscalciuc, alias Makena. The legal case was started at the beginning of last year, following complaints from detainees. The prosecutors established that in 1999-2010, Vladimir Moscalciuc, who was held in different penitentiaries in Moldova, founded a criminal organization called “Makena”. It consisted of a number of criminal groupings, one of which operated on the territory of Pruncul penitentiary. In order to get money for running the organization and attracting new members from among the detainees, the members of the group blackmailed other prisoners held in penitentiaries. They were threatened with death and forced to pay large sums of money. The prosecutors charged the leader of the criminal organization and another eight members. All the culprits serve time for committing serious and very serious offenses. The case was remitted to the Chisinau Court of Appeals. The proofs show that the criminal group at penitentiary No. 16, led by convicts Vladimir Moscalciuc and Lilian Chirica, acted in collusion with employees of the prison. A number of employees of the Justice Ministry’s Department of Penitentiary Institutions continue to be investigated. The Justice Ministry informed that the director of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions was dismissed, but did not specify the reasons. According to certain sources, quoted by Pro TV, the Ministry identified a scheme used by the Department’s head and another 10 employees receive salary bonuses.