Minister of the Interior: “Violent police actions on the night of April 8 were planned”

The actions taken by the police on the night of April 8, when Valeriu Boboc was allegedly killed, were planned in advance and the behavior of the police officers then proved it, Minister of the Interior Victor Catan said during PRO TV Chisinau's program “In Profunzime” on Thursday evening, Info-Prim Neo reports. The minister said that those who ordered the police to behave aggressively are responsible for Valeriu Boboc's death. “Valeriu Boboc was beaten even by one of the chiefs. It is evident that the police officers were instructed not only to free the Great National Assembly Square, but also to beat,” he said. “During the eight years of Communist government, the police had been educated in a different way and most of the police officers had been involved in cases of human rights violations. The April 7 events made us think. Such events should never repeat,” Catan said, stressing that more than 14,000 employees of the Ministry of the Interior had been fired in 2001-2009. However, he stressed that there are many police officers who do honestly their jobs. Taking part in the same program, Valeriu Boboc's lawyer Valeriu Plesca said the person who killed Boboc and his accomplices as well as the instigators will have to answer equally for what they did. Victor Catan and Valeriu Plesca said the information that Valeriu Boboc had a criminal record is not true and is designed to discredit the young man. Valeriu Boboc's parents also said that their son wasn't a criminal. Valeriu Boboc was found dead after the protests. The first official version was that the 23-year-old man got poisoned with an unidentified substance. His family and the civil society demanded that the body be exhumed. The new medical examination carried out by a foreign expert showed he died as a result of the head injuries he received. One year after the April events, an employee of the General Police Commissariat was arrested on supposition he murdered Valeriu Boboc.