Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament wins case against Alexandru Oleinic

After a year in litigation, the Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament (CICP) won the case started last December by former Minister of Information Technology Alexandru Oleinic, who ran in the November 28, 2010 legislative elections on the list of the Moldova Noastra Alliance. Alexandru Oleinic sued the CICP for defaming his reputation and dignity in the campaign “Know your candidate!”, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Tuesday, Cornelia Cozonac, director of the Journalistic Investigations Center that forms part of the CICP, said the Centru District Court dismissed Alexandru Oleinic’s claim as groundless. The former dignitary initially claimed damages of 2 million lei, but later, as he had to pay the state tax, decreased the sum to 100,000 lei. As many as 200,000 brochures titled “Know your candidate!” had been published within the campaign. But only 22,000 could be distributed. The other brochures were confiscated by the Centru District Court. They were released only in two months after the elections, by a decision of the Court of Appeals. Cristina Cojocar, lawyer for the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, said that last November, before the early parliamentary elections, the CICP was also sued by Stefan Uritu of the Liberal Party and by the Democratic Party and the Communist Party. The trials go on. Elena Prohnitski, the representative of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, said that five days before the early elections, the brochure “Know your candidate!” was distributed to the political parties, before being made public. Those included in the brochure could express their dissatisfaction, but they didn’t do it. The campaign “Know your candidate!” was launched in 2008. Before the elections, the CICP makes known the names of the candidates who do not meet the integrity criteria, for example have property and incomes that do not correspond to the submitted statements, use administrative resources for personal or party purposes, use the position in personal or family interests. In 2009, the CICP won a similar case started by Ion Prisacaru, a candidate on the Social-Democratic Party’s list. The Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament consists of the following NGOs: the Journalistic Investigations Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Independent Journalism Center, the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, and Soros Foundation Moldova.