Mayor general of Chisinau municipality Ion Ceban said he will sue Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița and Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco as the two said that he is on the list of those on whom the U.S. imposed sanctions. According to the mayor, these false statements were made with the aim of preventing the registration of the party he started to found – the National Alternative Movement (NAM), IPN reports.
In a news conference, the mayor said that a wave of hysteria and denigration followed the publication of the press release by the United States Department of the Treasury in which the National Alternative Movement that is being created was mentioned in one place. What followed is very serious. The Premier and the minister of justice almost handcuffed him. The government stages daily attacks because he, as a mayor, and the party he launched are popular with the citizens.
“I consider the actions by the Prime Minister and the minister of justice of the Republic of Moldova are evidently tendentious, manipulative and deceitful and are aimed at defaming the political project National Alternative Movement and my person. What is more serious is that from the Government’s rostrum they attack a party that is being founded. This is serious abuse of power and we will therefore defend our rights in court against false and defamatory statements. I think these messages from the Government House of the Republic of Moldova were made on purpose so as to mislead the citizens, the international partners and the people who want to join the NAM. Given that I and the NAM team said that we are in opposition to the current government, we consider what is going on is persecution according to political criteria and intimidation on the part of the government because we are vocal,” stated Ion Ceban.
He said he sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy, asking for clarification. “I informed about my personal concerns and the concerns of the initiative team of the NAM party about the information referring to us: “Recognizing the loss of popular support for Moldova’s old pro-Russia political elite, Gudilin’s team offered support to an opposition political group, the National Alternative Movement (NAM).” These sentences that refer to the NAM contain affirmations that are not substantiated,” noted Ion Ceban.
According to him, if there is evidence, this should be made public for everyone to see it or these assertions should be refuted.
