The lawyers for businessman Veaceslav Platon said the meetings with their client have been limited and all the discussions they have are supervised even if the legislation provides that these are confidential. The lawyers also said the trials in the case of Veaceslav Platon are controlled politically.
In a news conference at IPN, lawyer Elena Leanca said earlier they could see their client three times a week for an hour. The administration of Penitentiary No. 13, where Veaceslav Platon is held, decided that the number of meetings will be reduced to one a week. In this connection, the defense made a series of approaches and submitted requisitions to the court and the Prosecutor’s Office, but these remained unanswered. Video and audio surveillance devices were set up in the room where the meetings take place. Furthermore, there is an opening in the door through which employees of “Pantera” Detachment supervise the meetings.
The lawyers call on the National Administration of Penitentiaries to take measures and stop the wrongdoings and the violation of the rights of Veaceslav Platon.
Lawyer Alexandr Bodnariuc said everyone knows that Veaceslav Platon was put on the wanted list in 2016 and was later arrested in Ukraine, being practically kidnapped by the Moldovan authorities as the extradition permission hadn’t been given yet. After being taken to Penitentiary No. 13, Platon had practically no meetings with relatives and his right to receive parcels was restricted. He was also dispossessed of pencils so that he could not write particular things and transmit notes. The lawyers are also not allowed to transmit news form websites to their client in written form. The prison’s administration argues the detainees do not have the right to have a cellphone or other devices to access websites and cannot thus navigate. The lawyers consider such justification is unreasonable.
Alexandr Bodnariuc also said that the Appeals Court is examining the defense’s appeal in the second case in which Veaceslav Platon of convicted. As the judge who passed the sentence is among the five judges who were arrested on corruption charges, the quality of the examination of Platon’s case and the objectivity of the sentence are doubted. The lawyers have reasons to believe that the court will give its verdict in the case of Platon by the end of December and they expect their appeal will be rejected because the case is political. Veaceslav Platon said not only once that the criminal cases started against him are related to his conflict with the leader of the Democratic Part Vlad Plahotniuc. The defense is convinced that all the violations committed in the cases of Veaceslav Platon will be ascertained by the European Court of Human Rights.
