Another two witnesses modify testimony in Botnari and Papuc case

Two witnesses who Tuesday gave testimony in the case concerning the maltreatment of young people in April 2009 said they committed mistakes when they made the earlier depositions, Info-Prim Neo reports. Sergiu Paiu, who was commissioner of Rascani district in that period, during the investigation said an order was given during the protests to withdraw the injured police officers, but did not say who gave it. In the hearing yet, Sergiu Paiu modified his testimony. “I made a technical mistake. Nobody ordered that we pull back,” said Sergiu Paiu, who is now commissioner of Botanica district. One day earlier, the current commissioner of Rascani district Valentin Cucos, who was deputy commissioner in April 2009, said the personnel who was in the Parliament during the protests left the institution on the instructions of Sergiu Paiu, not the former commissioner of Chisinau Vladimir Botnari, as he said earlier. Former commissioner of Centru district Grigore Pulisca, who works for the Ministry of the Interior's General Operative Service Division, also gave different evidence. In Tuesday's hearing, he said that on April 7, he, together with 100 officers, went to the Chisinau City Hall, where there were the ballots used in the April 5 elections, and to the backyard of the Government located on Pushkin St. He also said he was ordered to create a group of police officers in reserve in the morning of April 7, not on April 6, as he stated earlier. “I think I mixed up the dates. It was a mechanical mistake,” he said, adding the policemen made everything possible to maintain public order and the orders given by his superiors were well-founded and timely. Five witnesses were summoned to give testimony in the September 14 hearing, which will continue on September 15.