Prosecutor’s Office suspects mayor of Chisinau of usurpation of power, UPDATE

The Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca had been interrogated for over two hours by officers of the Prosecutor’s Office of Chisinau’s Centru district on Friday afternoon. After the questioning, the mayor told the reporters that the prosecutors suspect him of organization of mass disorders and usurpations of state power with serious consequences, Info-Prim Neo reports. “I deny these totally unfunded accusations. It is an absurdity what the Prosecutor’s Office does,” Dorin Chirtoaca said. “I asked and will continue to ask the authorities, including the Prosecutor’s Office, why the cases of murder and inhuman and degrading treatment that happened after April 7 in the municipality of Chisinau are not investigated.” He did not rule out that other Opposition leaders could be also summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office over the same accusations. Earlier this week, the leader of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu said that by broadcasting the film “Attack on Moldova”, the TV channels loyal to the power prepare the people for the arrest of Opposition politicians. “They look for persons to blame where there are no such persons. On April 7, the Communists hid like the badgers in holes and did not even go out to ask the people why they were protesting,” Chirtoaca said. “I and my colleagues from the Opposition repeatedly called on the young people to protest peacefully.” The mayor general of Chisinau considers that his interrogation as suspect in the case opened by the Prosecutor’s Office over the April 7 disturbances is connected with the election campaign that will start soon. The leaders of the three parliamentary Opposition parties vehemently denied having organized the April 7 protests. However, the film “Attack on Moldova” implies that the disorder was orchestrated by politicians from the Opposition or political organizations from Romania. Dorin Chirtoaca was cited by the prosecutors to come again on June 17. [UPDATE]: In a communiqué issued on June 13, the Prosecutor General’s Office denies the mayor general’s assertions that the legal case instituted over the April 6-7 public disorders, in which Dorin Chirtoaca was questioned as a suspect, has a political character. “Dorin Chirtoaca was cited to the Prosecutor General’s Office and questioned on the basis of the evidence used legally in the investigation of a case. The penal legislation that regulates this procedural act was fully observed,” the communiqué says. The Prosecutor’s Office stresses that the interrogation of the mayor general is not a violation of the law on the status of MP as the parliamentary immunity applies in cases of arrest, search or trial.