Female protesters were raped in police stations, lawyer claims

At least three young women taken into the police's custody after the April 7 protests were beaten up and raped by policemen in police stations, claims lawyer Stefan Matei in an interview for Jurnal TV, Info-Prim Neo reports. He defends a victim and says the girl was sexually abused in the police department of Buiucani sector of Chisinau. “She told me she had been sexually abused. I asked her how. She said: two policemen were holding me as a third one seized the moment to rape me,” the lawyer says. “She told me the numberplate of the car she was taken with. They were policemen in civilian clothing and she saw them in uniforms in the police station. The girl was taken to the Buiucani department where she was sexually abused. Then they took her to the Centru district department,” Matei said. The young woman was arrested on April 6 and released on April 8. According to the barrister, the girl was examined by doctors and now is taking psychological counseling. Her file is considered by the Buiucani prosecutor's office, as a document certifying her sexual molestation is attached to it, plus a certificate proving she was beaten up. The lawyer says he's got information about three rape cases in police stations. The General Prosecutor's Office announced on April 23 it is investigating 24 complaints from people claiming to have been ill-treated by policemen. The prosecutors probe other 30 cases of this kind received from lawyers, parents, or from media. The Prosecutor's Office earlier set up a special group charged with examining all the requests and complaints from citizens claiming to be subjected to ill-treatment by policemen after the April 7 protests. The prosecutors also employ medical examiners to establish the cases of torture, reads a communique issued by the General Prosecutor's Office.