Protest in Bender is economic affair, CHDOM president

The picketing of penitentiary No. 8 in Bender is a profitable business. At a news conference on Wednesday, the president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Moldova (CHDOM) Stefan Uratu said that the action is aimed at appropriating the prison’s property. The protests were initiated on May 28. The participants demand that the penitentiary is moved to a place outside the town as there are prisoners suffering from tuberculosis, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Economic entities from the left and right banks of the Nistru and persons that want to appropriate the penitentiary’s property – the land and buildings of this institution - are involved in these events. The same scheme was used to appropriate the railway,” Stefan Uratu said. According to him, the protests were staged by the administration of Bender town. “The protesters rejected the proposal to set up a commission that would check to see if there was a risk of TB infection, though they agreed initially. One of the protesters replied that even if there is no infection risk, they still want that the penitentiary is transferred. “The Joint Control Commission that should ensure access to the Transnistrian region showed it is biased when it refused to move the truck that blocked access to the penitentiary,” Stefan Uratu also said. He stressed that the state must protect the prisoners who are citizens of Moldova, enforce the law and demand that the Transnistrian authorities observe it. “The prosecutor’s office should launch an investigation into this case and punish the persons to blame,” he said. “The citizens of Moldova from the right bank and the left bank of the Nistru are treated unequally. If offences are committed, those that live on the right bank are punished legally, while those that live in Transnistria – are not,” the CHDOM director Teo Carnat said. “This territory (where the prison is located – e.n.) will be lost if the Moldovan authorities do not intervene and negotiate with the protesters and explain them the real situation,” he added. Earlier, the Ministry of Justice denied the existence of prisoners sick with TB in the penitentiary No.8 in Bender and asked the parties involved in the talks in the 5+2 format and international experts to intervene and settle the dispute.