A man from Ștefan Vodă requests the Ministry of Justice to become involved after the Căușeni Court gave suspended sentences to two young men who were accused of beating and threatening his daughter and her boyfriend with death. He said they will block the R30 Palanca-Ștefan Vodă road if the Ministry does not take action.
In a news conference at IPN, the young woman’s lawyer Andrei Cebotari said the two culprits at the start of last December entered the territory of a recreational facility in Căușeni district where the young woman was celebrating her birthday. They came with a knife and a pistol and entered into a quarrel with the girl’s invitees, saying her boyfriend must apologize to a person whom he insulted. The quarrel degenerated into threats, insults and use of violence. One of the culprits immobilized the girl, beat her boyfriend and threatened him with the pistol. The same day, the two aggressors were charged with aggravated hooliganism and threatening with death and were placed in remand detention.
Andrei Cebotari noted that one week later, the prosecutor general issued an order to transfer the case from the Căușeni Prosecutor’s Office to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases. The prosecutor argued the two had ties with an organized criminal group suspected of smuggling, blackmailing, burglaries, trafficking in drugs and arms and kidnapping. One of them is a citizen of the Russian Federation.
This February, the case was remitted to court in Căușeni. The lawyer said the first questions appeared when two hearings were held in the absence of the injured parties even if summons had been issued. The case was being examined according to a simplified procedure, meaning the culprits admitted their guilt. In such conditions, it was evident that the court abused its authority as the prosecutor and the injured parties were to mandatorily pronounce on the request concerning the simplified procedure. When they were cited, the case was already being examined according to a simplified procedure and the request to return to the general procedure remained without an answer. The examination according to a simplified procedure enables to impose a milder punishment, specifically to reduce the minimum penalty by one third.
On March 25, judge Sergiu Pleșca, of the Căușeni Court, passed judgment in this case, giving four years and eight months suspended sentences to the culprits. Andrei Cebotari stated the court didn’t explain the reason for imposing suspended sentences at a time when the state prosecutor asked for six years and eight months in jail and expulsion in the case of the Russian citizen. The sentence is to be challenged in the Appeals Court.
The lawyer drew a parallel with a case that happened in 2014,when the same judge ordered remand detention for a person who didn’t have money to pay the mandatory health insurance contribution. The judgement was ultimately quashed.
“My parents probably had to provide a death certificate in court for the sentence to be objective. I, as a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, have to look for asylum or even to flee the country,” stated victim Vlada Jigailo, who noted she continues to be threatened.
“I want to call on all the parents with children to seek support. I want to call on the Ministry of Justice to react promptly to this case by midday tomorrow. Otherwise, we will block the R30 Palanca-Ștefan Vodă road. I ask the people from Ștefan Vodă who live close to this road to go out and support us. If the Ministry does not come with a reaction, we will block the road starting at 1pm,” said the young woman’s father Gennady Jigailo.
