The Civic Platform “Dignity and Truth” said the freedom of expression is threatened in Moldova. Its members signed a statement noting that the recent assertions by Minister of Justice Vladimir Cebotari, who said that the press is no longer a veridical source of information and the National Integrity Authority will not be able to inform itself from press reports, represent a cynical and perfidious act of public intimidation of the press that does not serve the regime and crass defiance of common sense, IPN reports.

The statement says that the minister’s assertions and the acts of prosecutor Adriana Betisor, who asked the Broadcasting Coordination Council to monitor the channel Jurnal TV and threatened “Ziarul de Garda” with a lawsuit are a signal transmitted to society by the oligarchic regime, by which they try to diminish the importance of the journalistic investigations in the social-political life of the country.

In this connection, the Platform warns all the embassies and international organizations working in Moldova that the unbiased press is in danger. It calls on the people to oppose, by all the legal means, the abuses and plans to establish control over the press and to hamper the freedom of expression. The statement says the journalistic guild and civil society must combine forces.