Hearing of case of Tiraspol student charged with terrorism has been postponed

A so-called court hearing of the case of a Tiraspol student – initially accused of terrorism and now of making a false report of an act of terrorism – has been postponed until an unspecified date, Info-Prim Neo learned from Ion Manole, the president of the human rights group Promo-LEX, which has been monitoring this and other cases of potential human rights violations in Transnistria. Ion Manole said the reason for the postponement is the refusal of a local lawyer to represent Alexandru Bejan. Another lawyer has been already identified, said Manole. In February 2012, Alexandru Bejan, an 11th grader at Lucian Blaga Lyceum in Tiraspol, was arrested by the security service of the Transnistrian region. Alexandru pleads not guilty. Alexandru's parents and the lyceum's administration fear for the student's life and well-being, especially since a similar case happened in 1997, when a student was arrested and sentenced to jail, where he died shortly. Promo-LEX has suggested in an earlier statement that the charges against Alexandru are exemplary and are related to his affiliation to one of the schools in the Transnistrian region which uses the Latin script and a curricula developed in Chisinau, establishments which the de facto Transnistrian authorities have tried to clamp down on.