MP Mark Tkachuk says two persons held in Balti are political prisoners of 'Ghimpu-Filat inquisition regime', UPDATE

Two young men from Balti town, who are members of a local sports club, were arrested by officers of the Prosecutor General's Office and the special brigade “Fulger” on March 9 in the morning. Communist MP Mark Tkachuk said the men are active sympathizers of the PCRM and were arrested by order of the 'Ghimpu-Filat inquisition regime', Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on March 23, Tkachuk said the police officers illegality searched the homes of the two young men while they were isolated. A magazine for a Kalashnikov gun was found at Iurie Iachimov's house. At the home of Serghei Blajevskii, who is a member of the PCRM, the officers discovered a bag with TNT on the kitchen table. The Communists Party's jurist Sergiu Sarbu said the search was carried out illegally and the men were arrested for 30 days also illegally. Mark Tkachuk said the two young men were political prisoners of the 'Ghimpu-Filat inquisition regime'. He stressed that the police exert pressure on the lawyers of the two men, who do not want to defend themselves anymore. The MP also said that the police force the young men into admitting that the PCRM and the sports club of which they are members engaged young people in the April 7 events and are involved in the grenade explosion that happened in central Chisinau on October 14. The representatives of the PCRM called on the human rights organizations to intervene. Asked to comment on the accusations, Minister of Justice Alexandru Tanase said he knows nothing about this case, but stressed that neither the Prosecutor's Office nor the police accept illegal arrests and the young men will be set free if they are not guilty. [UPDATE] In a communique, the Prosecutor General's Office (PG) says the statements made by the Communist MP distort the truth. It states that a search was carried out on March 9 after officers of the Ministry of the Interior informed that a number of boxers of the Balti club hold guns, munitions and drugs. According to the PG, at Serghei Blajevskii's home they found about 100 grams of TNT, while at Iurie Iachimov's home – a magazine for an AK gun and 42 bullets, 5.45 caliber.