The General Police Inspectorate launched an internal inquiry against the head of the Rezina Police Inspectorate and the police officers involved in the sequestration of the issue of the independent regional weekly “Cuvantul”. On a social networking site, Minister of the Interior Alexandru Jizdan announced that the involved persons were suspended for the period of the investigation, until a decision is taken, IPN reports.

The Ministry of the Interior intervened following a call made by media nongovernmental organizations, which warned that an issue of the independent regional weekly “Cuvantul” was sequestrated while this was being transported from the publishing house to the postal center in Rezina. The reason invoked by the police in Rezina was the absence of a certificate for transportation.

Pavel Filip instructed the administration of the Ministry of the Interior to immediately open an internal inquiry into this case and to make public the results of the investigation.

Media nongovernmental organizations said the steps taken by the economic police division of the Rezina Police Inspectorate are a serious abuse and an attempt to intimidate the journalists of the independent weekly. The paper has reportedly published a number of investigations about the property and personal interests of the administration of Rezina district.