The lawyers for businessman and politician Cristian Rizea deny the public reports that their client obtained the nationality of the Republic of Moldova illegally.
In a news conference at IPN, lawyer Corina Stratan said that being a Romanian citizen, Cristian Rizea, on November 14, 2017, filed an application to the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Bucharest, asking to have his Moldovan nationality recognized because his grandmother was a citizen of the Republic of Moldova. Cristian Rizea presented all the requested documents and met all the conditions when filing the set of documents. His request was dealt with by the Public Services Agency, which confirmed that Cristian Rizea obeyed the legal norms and was recognized as a citizen of Republic of Moldova together with his son.
The Agency’s notice is valid and has legal power. When the application to regain the Moldovan nationality by recognition was submitted, Cristian Rizea presented the record of crimes issued by the General Police Inspectorate of Romania and there was no criminal punishment against him at that moment. He was then neither investigated, nor convicted. Under the law, nobody can be stripped of nationally arbitrarily.
Cristian Rizea was deprived of nationality by presidential decree. The decree was challenged by a preliminary application that was yet rejected without explaining the reason. The decree will be challenged in court. Also, Cristian Rizea asked the President of the Republic of Moldova to grant him political asylum because he is afraid to return to Romania and fears his life is in danger. Until there is a definitive decision in this regard, Cristian Rizea cannot be extradited.
Lawyer Valeriu Pleșca related that since 2018, Cristian Rizea has lived legally in Moldova, being a citizen of Moldova and having investment projects and businesses here. Cristian Rizea was convicted in Romania in his absence and is to serve a senesce based on a final decision of 2019. On April 25, 2019, the Ministry of Justice of Romania asked to extradite citizen Cristian Rizea from Moldova, with the application being transmitted to the Ministry of Justice in Chisinau in May 2019.
As Cristian Rizea was a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, the procedure for implementing the sentence given to him in Romania was to be started in Moldova. Neither the President, nor the prosecution service or the police had taken measures during about a year. Something happened after his client made statements for a Romanian TV channel as Igor Dodon cancelled his electoral leave and returned for a day, on November 2, to withdraw the nationality of Cristian Rizea by presidential decree. The real reason for such an act is not known.
The next day after the decree was issued, Cristian Rizea was arrested by officers of the National Investigation Inspectorate and taken to penitentiary No. 13 where he is held now. On November 6, he was arrested for being extradited before receiving the extradition request. Cristian Rizea has reasons to believe that the warnings and threats over his public statements and the possibility of a sudden “natural death” can materialize. In such conditions, he asked to recognize in Moldova the sentence passed by the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania and to order to serve the sentence in Moldova.
