“Moldova Mea” Association requests BCC to return license to NIT

The Association “Moldova Mea” demanded that the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) should give back the license to the private television channel NIT within 15 days. Otherwise, it will sue the Council, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It’s my right to watch the channel I like and the BCC infringed this right,” the Association’s chairman Fiodor Ghelici said in a news conference on Monday. According to him, by withdrawing the license of the private TV channel NIT, the Council violated Article 32 of the Constitution, which refers to the freedom of opinion and expression. Damages of 1 million lei will be sought from every member of the BCC. Fiodor Ghelici said that the BCC should focus on the online media that is one of the most dangerous for society, according to him, because it shows the ugliest things that can be seen by children. Member of the Association Igor Caldare said that those who voted for withdrawing NIT’s license are criminals who flouted the Constitution. Journalist Mihail Lupascu told the same news conference that the measures to ban some of the channels taken by the authorities do harm to society as they hinder the people from informing themselves from any source. He said that he did not see NIT calling to disobedience and violation of the Constitution by its programs. Felix Mihailean, a member of “Moldova Mea”, said that if democracy is not respected in a democratic state, this state cannot be named democratic. “The truth will triumph sooner or later,” he stated. The application to the BCC to return the license to NIT was submitted to the Council on June 4. The Broadcasting Coordination Council withdrew the license of the TV channel NIT on April 5, arguing it violated a number of articles of the Broadcasting Code.