Parishioners from Holy Virgin Coverage Church in Floresti have been under siege for 4 days

A group of parishioners from the Holy Virgin Coverage Church in the town of Floresti have been under siege inside the venue for four days. The church is claimed by both Orthodox organisations of Moldova. Lazar Tigai, a man who suffers from progressive disability and was a builder and caretaker of the church, told Info-Prim Neo that based on an understanding between the Moldovan Metropolitan Church and the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church concerning the place where the Floresti church was planned to be built, parishioners of the latter raised the venue in 1999 without claiming ownership over it. Tigai says since the Communists arose to power, the Moldovan Metropolitan Church has changed and Bessarabian followers who built the church have been intimidated more than once. The papers invoked by the Moldovan Metropolitan Church regarding the venue are fake, first of all because there does not exist any claim on the church from the Floresti community. „We all here are with the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church.” The man continued, on 20 December 2005 police officers and prosecutors removed the believers from the church and sealed up the door. The chairman of the Floresti district, Mihail Russu, said „no Romanian church will live in this district as long as I live.” On cold days, Bessarabian priests served the parishioners in a tent outside the closed church, but the tent, too, was removed by the authorities. „Being sick of this mockery and wishing a normal service, about 100 parishioners broke the seal down on Sunday (19 March) and entered the church,” Tigai told Info-Prim Neo. Local public authorities entered the church shortly afterwards, accompanied by police and prosecutors, and the church was surrounded by policemen. Security Service officials were there, too, according to the source. The believers locked themselves inside. On the second day, the priests filed charges against the priests for „hooliganism”, and on the third day the telephone and the gas supply were cut off. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, the secretary of the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, Ioan Ciuntu, said that the incident in Floresti is an outstanding event. „The Moldovan Metropolitan Church, which had not bought a stone for that venue, but is heavily supported by the political leadership of this country and by the chiefs of that district, claims properties of our church,” Ciuntu said. Mr. Cintu says that the residents, not priests had opened the church and own it, while the district chairman was violating a judgement of the Constitutional Court regarding the registration of Bessarabian churches. Mr Russu, continued Ciuntu who was Sunday in Floresti, said he did not read that judgement and therefore he would not abide by it. There is a court action right now but no ruling has been released yet, so the Floresti authorities are now breaking the law. According to Ioan Ciuntu, the Floresti parishioners will win the case in the European Court of Human Rights, and the Moldovan authorities will be ordered again to answer for unwise actions. The chairman of the Floresti district, Mihail Russu, was very irritated whiled being called to defend his stance. „I am not a director for mass media girls, so don’t bother me because I am very busy handling a church matter.” He interrupted the telephone conversation. There was no one to answer phone calls in the Moldovan Metropolitan Church by this afternoon.