Former political prisoners reunited in freedom

15 years after their arrest, three members of the Ilascu group, condemned in 1992 by an unrecognised court on the left bank of the Nistru River on charges of terrorism have finally met outside their cells. The only group member who was absent was Romanian senator Ilie Ilascu, who might arrive in Chisinau soon. Tuesday afternoon, on June 5, the former political prisoners met at the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau, where they had been invited by the Romanian diplomats to discuss the possibility of health recovery in Romania, but also to get reassured of all the support from the authorities in Bucharest, Info-Prim Neo reports. After more than one our of discussions at the Embassy, Andrei Ivantoc accompanied by his wife Eudochia, Alexandru Lesco and Tudor Petro-Popa made statements for the Moldovan and Romanian media. When asked whether the authorities in Chisinau responded in any way to the release of the last two members of the group, Ivantoc, Lesco and Petrov-Popa stated that nobody from the Moldovan authorities has welcomed them and nobody has even called them. They also said that Gigi Becali, the owner of the “Steaua” football club in Bucharest, called them and promised to give each of them 50 thousand euros in support. Weak and tired, Andrei Ivantoc explained that the way he acted in the moment of his release was a gesture of protest against the decision of the Tiraspol authorities to expel him and to declare him persona non grata in his own country. He also stated that he was threatened by the separatists to be arrested or shot in case he returns to Transnistria. Currently Andrei Ivantoc is subjected to medical tests. The former political prisoners refrained from announcing whether they will get involved in politics in the future. They said that for now they have not made any plans of that kind, however they know for sure that they will continue to fight for the Romanian cause. The three patriots pointed out that it was Romanian senator Ilie Ilascu who stood up for them during all these years of detention. “He supported us a lot and he did his best to help us”, said Andrei Ivantoc. The former detainees seemed to be surprised by the statements made by Loius O’Neil, the head of OSCE mission to Moldova. The European official referred to the process of releasing the political prisoners Ivantoc and Petro-Popa as “a good example of cooperation between the Moldovan and the Transnistrian authorities”. The former detainees confirmed that Ivantoc was beaten and abused by the Transnistrian law enforcement bodies right in the presence of OSCE representatives. They also said that they would countersign the protest Note written by the journalists and the civil society from both Romania and Moldova against the “cruel treatment that Andrei Ivantoc was subjected to, against the way the Moldovan authorities watched the political prisoner being beaten repeatedly, against their attempt to underrate and even to hush up this incident, but especially against the response of the OSCE representative, who watched apathetically a EU citizen being beaten and abused without opposing or protesting neither at that moment, not later.” This note will be handed to the attendants of the OSCE Conference, which will take place on June 7-8 in Bucharest. All the four members of Ilascu group are citizens of Romania, and as of January 1 2007 they became citizens of the European Union as well.