The amendment of the Criminal Code article concerning treason should worry only those who sell their country, PAS MP Igor Chiriac stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to him, the amendments made to the Criminal Code do not undermine the right to freedom of expression, but will only provide levers for the law enforcement agencies to penalize those who act in the interests of a foreign state and endanger the security of the Republic of Moldova.
The lawmaker assured that the new amendments to the Criminal Code, which clearer regulate the notion of “treason”, do not limit the citizens’ right to freedom of expression. Only those who serve the interests of a foreign state should be afraid of these changes to the legislation.
“I reiterate that the right to freedom of expression is a right enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, which is the Supreme Law, and it is protected. Everyone has the right to express their point of view. This rule does not diminish this fundamental right. This norm should only worry those who sell their country. Those who try with the help of a foreign state, an aggressor state, to influence the democratic processes in the Republic of Moldova, the electoral process. Those who cross the country’s border with millions of euros to buy voters. These are the people who should worry. But the political parties that have a correct activity do not have reasons to worry,” stated Igor Chiriac.
He rejected the accusations of opposition MPs, who say that the government hurried to adopt these amendments, in the absence of genuine public consultations. According to the MP, the opposition did not come up with proposals to improve the legal norm.
“As it is noted in the Criminal Code article on treason, there must be an act against the security of the Republic of Moldova and there must be a causal link showing that these actions are committed in the interests of a foreign power, with the aim of harming the Republic of Moldova. So far, I have seen some criticism in the media, but I have not seen any concrete proposal. We held public consultations. We informed the public through the media that we intend to register a draft law to amend the Criminal Code article on treason, but until the examination in the third reading, we hadn’t received any proposal from anyone at all, including from the parliamentary opposition,” said Igor Chiriac.
He noted that the explanations regarding “disinformation campaigns” were excluded from the informative note to the bill before the final reading. In the final formula of the law, hostile actions against national security are to be interpreted through the angle of the law on state security.
“Any change, anything new raises concerns, until it is put into practice and it turns out that it is applied in good faith. We must admit that disinformation is a very powerful hybrid weapon of Russia and quite dangerous to the security of states, especially against the Republic of Moldova, when we are subjected to permanent attacks. The informative note provided that disinformation campaigns are also part of the hostile actions directed against the Republic of Moldova. As a result of the held discussions, in the third reading, in the report of the legal commissions it was indicated that these explanations should be excluded from the informative note of the amendment bill, but the hostile actions should be interpreted also through the angle of Article 4 of the law on state security,” explained the parliamentarian.
The public debate entitled “Treason in legislation and in life” was the 308th installment of the project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”, which is implemented by IPN News Agency with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
