Moldovan police against the Council of Europe. Info-Prim Neo analysis

The police in Moldova are rebellious and pose a threat to the people and the democratic basis of the Moldovan state. The behavior of the Moldovan police is defiant and provoking in relation to the international organizations, in particular the Council of Europe, and is designed to discredit the democratic character of the current election campaign at a time when all the foreign partners formulated clear recommendations as regards the importance of the elections for accepting Moldova into the European community. These are some of the possible explanations, but not the only ones, for the police raid at a television station in the height of the election campaign, even if it was the local channel Albasat TV in Nisporeni The attack by the Moldovan police on the Council of Europe or of Chisinau on Strasbourg via Nisporeni is not only a figure of speech if we look at the particular period in which it took place. The police violated and defied precise and clear principles and norms formulated by the Council of Europe in 1999, which are mandatory for Moldova as well. The Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe No. R (99) 15 “Concerning measures regarding the covering of the election campaigns by mass media” tells the public authorities of the member states to take measures to ensure the efficient protection not only of the journalists working for media outlets, but also of their offices, given their increased importance during elections. In a civilized state, such a protection can be ensured especially by the police, not by voluntaries, neighbors, students of the local school or children of the nearby kindergarten… In order not to leave space for interpretations of the role of the police in the media outlet’s office or near it during the election period, the Council of Europe specifies in the same document that “the public authorities should refrain from interfering in the activity of the media organizations and journalists with the aim of influencing the elections.” In 2001, the recommendation was translated into Romanian and the Moldovan authorities can easily understand it. Moreover, the text was translated in Moldova with the support of the Council of Europe and is recognized by the Council of Europe as official translation. Last weekend, the Anticorruption Alliance composed of a number of NGOs identified another abnormal aspect of the relations between the Moldovan police and the foreign partners. According to the Alliance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs misuses considerable financial resources offered by foreign donors, this time by U.S. corporations. The statement was made in the context of the incident at the TV channel in Nisporeni. The provocation in the case of Albasat TV is serious because reveals the existence of a deep-rooted practice of intimidating the mass media by the police or through the police and this practice is also used during election campaigns and from the angle of election campaigns. The national and international public opinion remembers the fresh cases reported by the press and the civil society. To a great extent, these intimidations and pressure determine the constant degrading of the freedom of the press in Moldova, noticed by the international organizations during the last few years. The pretexts used for pressure and intimidations are very relevant to the state institutions’ attitude towards the press. As a rule, they are superficial, unsupported and non-proportional compared with the damage caused to the attacked media outlet and to the image of the country in general. Generally, the accusations are not confirmed and no court decision is made over them. The actions usually show lack of professionalism and defiance of the common sense, arrogance and confidence that no one will be punished. Taken together, they produce uncertainty and fear in the Moldovan press and in the society in general. The case of Albasat can serve as model of such dangerous arrogance and disproportionality. Policemen from the capital city, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs raided a local TV channel. Their pretext was the complaint of an applicant, not even employee, for a certain post at this channel. The Ministry considered such a pretext enough to make raids and sequester goods and people without special authorization, say journalists and the channel’s lawyer. The fact that the Ministry did not consider it necessary to prepare beforehand a certain position for the public and the press in such an unusual case speaks about dangerous non-professionalism and arrogance. The administration of the Ministry did not even find it important to inform its press unit about it. Initially, the press unit could not answer the journalists’ questions. No one says that the secrets should be revealed if there are such, but the respect for the law and the common sense is obligatory in all the cases, including and firstly for the police. The case of Albasat TV is indeed unusual: as press institution, the television channel was under the double protection of the national legislation and the international norms, strengthened by the particularities of the election campaign. The incident in Nisporeni comes in the wake of other real dangers generated by the actions of the police against the press, the civil society, peaceful protesters like Anatol Matasaru. It highlights the helplessness or need to protect the ordinary man from attackers in full day, like the persons that attacked the leaders and members of the human rights NGOs in central Chisinau and in front of the General Prosecutor’s Office, which should monitors the activity of the police. The behavior of the Moldovan police in relation to the national press and international organizations could have other explanations than the mentioned ones. But there could be even more worrying explanations, depending on the level at which the decisions like those that caused this scandal related to the Moldovan mass media are taken.