The court of law on January 13 is to pass its sentence in the case that features four of the participants in the January 2016 protest mounted against the investiture of the Filip Government. The participants in the protest say they are prosecuted in a political case fabricated by order of the judiciary controlled by the former leader of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc. Two of them and also representatives of the public association “Right to Justice” call on the President and the Prosecutor General to take this case under scrutiny.
In a news conference at IPN, Pavel Grigorchuk, who heads the public association “Right to Justice”, said the case started after the protest of January 2016, which involved thousands of people, is fully political in character, “being fabricated by the justice system of Plahotniuc”. The people joined in the ad-hoc event in order to protest against the installation of the Filip Government. “I think these people cannot be tried. On the contrary, we should speak with dignity about them, while their civic activism and attitude should be presented as examples for other people. I would like to this way address President Maia Sandu, Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo and the foreign partners and ask them to pay attention to this case and to other political cases started by order,” noted Pavel Grigorchuk.
Defendant Aureliu Pisica said that when they found out that the Government was to be invested at night, the people came together to protest peacefully, but there were aggressive persons, provokers among the protesters. Of the 13 persons classed as suspects, among whom were current MPs, only four were brought to justice. Multiple procedural violations were committed in the trial that was held practically in the absence of the injured parties: police officers and several state officials. “I want to call on the prosecutor general – the first court is to pass its judgment tomorrow – to examine this case and see what actions were taken by the prosecutor in this case that went to Buiucani and how the investigation was conducted,” stated Aureliu Pisica.
Vrej Martirosean, the charges against whom were dropped by the prosecutor, said that owing to the frequency of hearings, he could not focus on his concerns. He has a family and has to work to maintain it. Due to this case, he missed a university year. The prosecutor dropped the charges, but too late. The charges against the other three defendants in this political case should also be dropped.
The hearing at the Buiucani branch of the Chisinau City Court was set to start at 11am.
The news conference forms part of the series of conferences held in the framework of IPN’s project “Exposing Injustice through Multimedia”. IPN Agency does not undertake to decide if the organizers of news conferences are right in the cases about which they will speak as this is the exclusive prerogative of justice, but the exaggeratedly long examination period of these cases, which is much longer than the law allows, can be considered an act of evident unfairness and injustice. IPN News Agency does not bear responsibility for the public statements made in the public sphere by the organizers of news conferences.
