Law on free meetings further breeched: opinion leaders

Leaders of a number of non-governmental organizations warned, at a news conference on Monday, May 12, on violating the rights to free meetings and free speech. According to them, hindering the gays' pride on May 11 is a notorious example of discrimination, Info-Prim Neo reports. Executive director of Amnesty International Moldova, Evgehenii Golosceapov, says it is to be greeted that Moldova is recording progress in modifying the legislation on free meeting and free speech. However, although such a law was passed, it is not observed. On the contrary, in fact the things are quite different, as massive discriumination and numerous violations are noticed. Acording to Evgehenii Golosceapov, the municipality having banned the gays' pride and the lack of intervention on behalf of the police when protesters marched on the gays actually mean restricting a series of rights stipulated in the European Convention of Human Rights. He opines violating the law, in force since April 22, was conscientious and assumed by both the local authorities and the central authorities exactly by their refusal to guarantee and insure the good unfolding of the gay parade. That is why, as a consequence, the sexual minorities could not organize the peaceful actions they programmed. Executive director of Human Rights NGOs from Moldova “CReDO”, Sergiu Ostaf, opines restricting the right to meeting is caused by drawbacks in the law, but also by the police abusively applying relevant norms. According to him, the respective law was passed in order that the country aligns to the European standards and principles. Sergiu Ostaf says by breeching the law, Moldova runs the risk to be qualified as a state in which the authoritarian regime can ever emerge, as long as two European values are not observed: the one related to the development of democracy and the one referring to the observance of all the human rights. Those NGOs call on the Moldovan authorities to quickly probe the cases of deviation from observing the rights to free meeting and to punish the guilty ones. They also ask to educate and inform on the free meeting the law-enforcing bodies and the local officials. Those NGOs call on international organizations to utter their opinions as to the recent incidents and to asks the authorities for explanations. Gender Doc-M members vow to seek for ways to sue the City Hall and the police for breeching their rights and discriminating sexual minorities.