Deputy Premier for Reintegration: Vardanyan made confessions under pressure

“There is no secret in Transnistria for us. We know everything, but do not say because it is not the case. No secret can exist in a region of Moldova that we know so well as we can follow closely the developments there,” Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Victor Osipov told a news conference on May 12, when asked to comment on a video broadcast by a Transnistrian TV channel one day earlier In the video, freelance journalist Ernest Vardanyan, who was arrested on suspicion that he was spying for Moldova on April 7, admits that he worked for the Moldovan Security and Information Service. The Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration said he was sure the confession was made under the pressure exerted by MGB (State Security Ministry) officers. “I do not want to pay attention to this video as one can say anything under pressure, when knowing that the wife and children are being threatened,” Victor Osipov said. According to Osipov, Ernest Vardanyan did not work for Transnistrian organizations from where he could obtain secret information. “The brilliant operation carried out by the Transnistrian secret services is valueless,” he said. “Even if the authorities of the breakaway republic of Transnistria say Ernest Vardanyan did something bad and even if he is our ideological opponent as he criticized the Moldovan authorities when writing for Communist newspapers, we will do everything possible to set him free.” As to his recent visit to Washington, Victor Osipov said all those involved in settlement of the Transnistrian conflict know details about the cases of Ernest Vardanyan and Ilie Cazacu, who was arrested in March on the same charges, and are making efforts to release them. The images broadcast by the Transnistrian TV channel are the first showing Ernest Vardanyan after his arrest. Earlier, the news agency Novyi Region 2, for which Ernest Vardanyan worked, reported that the Transnistrian secret services leaked information, according to which the journalist admitted his guilt and was cooperating with the investigators. Later, the Romanian press quoted the Armenian press as saying that Ernest Vardanyan, who is of Armenian origin, is tortured in detention and he asked for protection for his wife and two children. He also asked not believing the images from the interrogation as anyone can be made to say anything.