People's Advocate Ceslav Panico has expressed concern over the "blatant hate-filled attacks" against journalists from the Gagauz ATU, which took place on February 15 during the congress of deputies of all levels in Comrat, IPN reports.
The ombudsman's recommendations were forwarded to the People's Assembly of UTA Gagauzia in the form of an official document. Within one month, the People's Assembly must inform the People's Ombudsman about the results of the examination of these recommendations.
"Boris Novac has in fact incited harassment of editorial offices and journalists, urging general contempt for them. Such rhetoric directly threatens journalists' freedom of expression and security. It undermines freedom of expression and the right to information," the lawyer emphasized.
The ombudsman stressed that censorship is forbidden and that public persons can be subject to criticism.
"Those who hold public office can be criticized and their actions scrutinized by the media. The scrutiny can concern how they have performed or are performing their duties," Panico said.
The People's Advocate also noted that paragraph (1) art. 26 (1) of the Code (Constitution) of the Gagauz Republic of Gagauzia guarantees citizens freedom of thought and expression. However, according to the ombudsman, "the leadership of the People's Assembly of UTA Gagauzia and the Executive Committee did not take any measures to prevent hate speech against journalists, thus contributing to hate speech and harassment".
Ceslav Panico recommended the People's Assembly to apologize to the journalists of nokta.md and laf.md editorial offices, to ensure that MPs respect parliamentary ethics and to take measures to prevent violations of media rights in terms of freedom of expression and access to information.
Journalists from the publications nokta.md and laf.md, along with other journalists, were subjected to public pressure at the congress of elected representatives in Comrat. Former People's Assembly deputy Boris Novac urged congress participants to show "general contempt" for journalists. Ilie Uzun, the first deputy to the Bashkan, also asked the Speaker of the People's Assembly to remove a journalist from nokta.md from the hall.
