A group of public associations that defend and promote human rights on May 7 awarded the anti-prize “Black Heart” to former Minister of the Interior Gheorghe Papuc, who held office in April 2009. The prize will be send by mail together with messages from the participants and victims of the April 2009 events, IPN reports.
“The victims still go through courts, looking for justice. Regretfully, civil society does not have many instruments to react to these cases. It was thus decided to take an attitude action and award anti-prizes to persons who were involved in the illegalities of April 2009,” said Olesea Perean, a member of the National Human Rights Council.
Human rights activist Vitalie Popov said they chose seven persons of 27 candidates who held executive posts in April 2009. They include Mihai Diaconu, judge at the Botanica District Court, and Gheorghe Papuc. “Mihai Diaconu reacted violently and ill-treated us, while Mister Papuc cannot be met physically. Therefore, we staged such an event. We will weekly award by a prize to these persons,” he stated.
Lawyer Veaceslav Turcan, who heads the public associations Human Rights Embassy, noted that the public opinion counts a lot. “The public associations reached the conclusion that they must send a message to society - that the observance of the human rights depends not on who governs the country, but on the respect for the rights in any situation,” he said.
“The case of Valeriu Boboc was hushed up. Not only Gheorghe Papuc is directly responsible for those acts. There are also other persons to blame.”
The anti-prize is a black marble plaque representing a black heart that includes a text engraved on it. The committee constituted for the purpose only awards the anti-prize and does not pronounce on the facts from legal viewpoint.
