Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Victor Osipov is asking the authorities in Tiraspol to liberate the freelance journalist Ernest Vardanyan, who was arrested on April 7 in the Transnistrian region on charges on ‘high treason’ and ‘espionage’, Info-Prim Neo reports. The authorities in Chisinau possess information that in recent days security forces in Tiraspol have brought trumped-up charges of ‘high treason’ against a number of civil society representatives working in the Transnistrian region. “We hope it is an exaggeration, but it has already become a known fact that Ernest Vardanyan – a freelance journalist who was recently accepted for a position with an important international organization (UN Secretariat –IPN) – was arrested there”, Osipov said in a statement. “I’m expressing my deep concern over the fate of this man and I’m requesting that he is set free. I consider that such political police practices compromise the Tiraspol leaders even more and might aggravate the situation in the region”, stated Victor Osipov. The deputy prime minister has added that these actions contradict the recent tendency of confidence-building between the two banks of the Nistru and is a flagrant violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms in the Transnistrian region. Osipov has said that the charges brought against the journalist are absurd and his arrest will trigger international reactions. To free Ernest Vardanyan, the authorities in Chisinau cooperate with the OSCE Mission and intend to appeal for assistance to the international participants involved in the 5+2 talks. Under the laws of the separatist republic, Ernest Vardanean faces up to 20 years in prison.