Ministry of Justice denies Communists' accusations that it registered extremist organization

The Ministry of Justice denies the accusations that it registered an organization involved in extremist activities made by the Communist MP Grigore Petrenko, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communique from the Ministry. In a news conference on December 22, Grigore Petrenko accused the Ministry of Justice of registering an extremist organization, namely the public association “National Christian Movement”. The Ministry of Justice says that under the law on public associations, it is obliged to register the public associations whose documents are in accordance with the law within 30 days. A public association cannot be registered only when its statute runs counter to the Constitution and the legislation of Moldova. The statute of the public association “National Christian Movement” does not contain stipulations that could be described as extremist or not in accordance with the Constitution of Moldova. None of the aims and principles enumerated in its statute and the assumed methods of activity can be considered illegal or extremist. In this connection, the Ministry of Justice reminds that it abandoned the former Communist government's illegal practice of arbitrarily refusing to register noncommercial organizations, as this is against article 11 of the European Court of Human Rights, which guarantees the freedom of association. The Ministry says that under article 1 of the law on combating extremist activities, a public or religious organization is considered extremist only after the court passes a definitive judgment to suspend or stop its activity as it carried out extremist activities. There is no such court decision at present. Moreover, the public association “National Christian Movement”, after it was registered on November 12, 2009, carried out no activity in general. It demands that the Communist MP provide information about the alleged involvement of this noncommercial organization in extremist activities so as to examine it and take the necessary steps. On Tuesday, December 22, Info-Prim Neo published a news story about the news conference held by Communist MP Grigore Petrenko. He reproached the government for registering the legionary-type National Christian Movement, which, in his view, shows that the current administration supports right-wing extremist organizations.