Bender woman held hostage by Transnistrian militsiya

A 20-year-old woman from Bender has been kidnapped and is now held hostage by the Transnistrian law enforcement bodies after her mother failed to appear before investigators, the human rights organization Promo-Lex reported in a press release, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to Promo-Lex, the mother learned about the kidnapping of her daughter while receiving treatment for a heart condition at a hospital in Chisinau. An investigator from Bender told Zinaida Ciuhnenko she wouldn't see her daughter free until she returned to Transnistria to “serve her punishment”. Promo-Lex says Elena Dobrovitskaya is held in inhuman conditions in the basement of a remand center in Bender. Before going to the militsiya station, Elena told her mother she was feeling very sick and had fever but she would go anyway in order to prevent bigger problems. Elena was supposed to attend her final graduation exam today. Meanwhile, Elena's husband disappeared without a trace. The human rights association Promo-Lex is requesting the urgent involvement of the Moldovan legitimate authorities, the Russian Federation, the European Union, Ukraine, the United States and the OSCE Mission, in their capacity as actors in the 3+2 talks, as well as of other international organizations. “We demand that prompt and concrete action is taken to defend the fundamental rights and liberties of Zinaida Ciuhnenko and Elena Dobrovitskaya, and to obtain the unconditional release of the young woman from the unofficial remand center of the militsiya station in the Transnistrian region”, said Promo-Lex.