Moldovan citizen faces forceful enrollment in Transnistrian army

A 20-year-old man from Tiraspol, who completed his military service in the Moldovan National Army, is forced by the separatist authorities to serve a second time, this time in the Transnistrian army. The man was detained yesterday at a Transnistrian checkpoint near the Ukrainian border and, after being subjected to a medical examination, was transported to a military unit. Ion Manole, the president of the human rights organization Promo-LEX, has told Info-Prim Neo that he was contacted by the man's parents, who asked the Moldovan authorities for intervention. Manole notified the administration of the Moldovan deputy premier for reintegration matters, Victor Osipov, and the Moldovan delegation to the Joint Control Commission. According to Manole, the detained man will be obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the Transnistrian army tomorrow. “I guess he was constrained to choose between prison and army”, says Manole. “The constitutional authorities must do their utmost to prevent the enrollment of this young man to the Transnistrian army. They must raise this issue at today's meeting of the Joint Control Commission. At least this would delay the enlistment oath. Guarantees must be sought that this man would not be threatened, tortured or disfigured”, says Manole, adding that this is case is not uncommon. “There are hundreds of such cases. Lists are compiled in every community. When they get caught, the young men are obliged to serve the regime”, he says. In his opinion, the problem of the Transnistrian men being forced to do their military service in the separatist army “contrary to their civic position” is a very serious issue that must be discussed not only within the Joint Control Commission, but also during talks in the 5+2 format. “This situation is due to the lack of insistent action from the Moldovan authorities during a longer period of time and their attitude towards human rights problems in this region. However, we can notice a positive change in the attitude of the current government and we hope that their efforts could yield some results in this respect”, stated Manole. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, the representative of the Moldovan MoD in the Joint Control Commission Sergiu Gutu said he didn't know anything about the case, adding that it was too late to change the agenda of the upcoming meeting.