Court rejects journalists’ application even if City Hall admits to selling municipal radio and television stations illegally

For the second time, the Court of Appeals Chisinau rejected as unfounded the application filed by journalists that worked for the former municipal broadcasters Antena C and Euro TV Chisinau. The plaintiffs’ lawyer Maria Orlov told Info-Prim Neo that at the court hearing of December 19, the City Hall’s representative admitted that the decisions to privatise the two media institutions were adopted by violating the legislation, but said that the non-pecuniary damages asked by the plaintiffs are exaggerated. The judge did not take into account the fact that the defendant admitted the guilt, which shows that the decision was made by order and prepared beforehand, Maria Orlov said. One of the plaintiffs, Ecaterina Stratan, the former deputy director of the radio station Antena C, said that by admitting the illegalities, the present Chisinau administration made a step in the right direction. Yet, the court’s decision was predictable because the municipal stations were sold following a political order, the cited source said. The group of journalists intends to appeal again the decision to the Supreme Court of Justice and if the decision remains unchanged it will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Earlier, the Supreme Court of Justice sent the application lodged by employees of the former public stations back to the Court of Appeals for re-examination, changing the composition of the panel. On November 30, 2006 the Chisinau Municipal Council decided to reorganise the two institutions by sale by the vote of the Communist and Christian-Democratic councillors. On December 14, the same councillors decided to hold an investment contest to sell Antenei C and Euro TV Chisinau and dismissed the directors of the two stations. The employees, media organizations and politicians disputed the two decisions, describing them as illegal and made at political order. Thirty-six employees of the two stations asked the court to suspend the procedure for selling Antena C and Euro TV Chisinau, to cancel the ordinance issued by the former interim mayor Vasile Ursu regarding the new administrations of the stations, to oblige CMC and the interim mayor to re-establish the normal functioning conditions of the two institutions, to oblige CMC and the interim mayor to pay damages worth 100,000 lei to each plaintiff. The journalists said that the money will be invested in developing the radio station and the television channel.