CoE to help Moldova free Corjova arrestees

Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner, promised that CoE would offer support to the Moldovan authorities in releasing the two men from Corjova village, who were recently arrested by the Transnistrian authorities. This was one of the issues discussed by Thomas Hammarberg and Moldova's Deputy Speaker Vlad Plahotniuc, as part of a series of Moldova-CoE meetings in Strasbourg, according to the online publication Vedomosti.md. Thomas Hammarberg condemned the actions by the Tiraspol regime and promised to intervene in this case. “Unfortunately, we do not posses any legal leverage to solve this case, as Transnistria cannot be a member of the Council of Europe, but we hope we can find a way to overcome this conflict situation”, said Thomas Hammarberg. “We discussed what possible leverages CoE could employ to secure the unconditional release of the mayor and councilor from Corjova, together with Ernest Vardanyan and Ilie Cazac, arrested earlier by the Tiraspol authorities”, said Vlad Plahotniuc. On Tuesday, March 2, Valeriu Mitsul, the mayor of Corjova village, and local councilman Iurie Cotsofan were arrested by the Transnistrian militia as they were participating in a commemorative event dedicated to the Nistru war, which started 19 years ago on that day. They were arrested for a term of at least 7 days.