Protest outside Constitutional Court, staff 'evacuated'

A group of protesters on Tuesday picketed an apparently empty building of the Constitutional Court condemning its decision to nullify the presidential 'Soviet Occupation Day' decree. The protesters demanded the resignation of the Court 'in bank' accusing its judges of immorality, Info-Prim Neo reports. The protesters intend to demonstrate on a daily basis until the Court reverses its decision. Ghenadie Brega, an outspoken activist and one of the organizers, says a protest rally will be staged tomorrow outside the Russian Embassy in Chisinau, as well. “Why was that our judiciary interfered and gave a political assessment to a historical event? The Constitutional Court is playing into a foreign country's hands”, declared Ghenadie Brega. Another protester, Anatol Hristea-Stan, said he expected the Constitutional Judges to tell him what 28 June 1940 really was if not a day of 'occupation'. “The decision on the presidential decree was a political one. The judges disregarded a historical fact, and disregard ought to be punished by the law”. The protesters blew whistles, tapped drums and chanted. And even clashed with a passer by, who asked them in Russian why they didn't threw stones, as they had done in the case of the Parliament building. The police intervened to cool things down. Inside the Constitutional Court (CC) there was nobody but the guards, as the judges went on a business trip while the staff were evacuated, Info-Prim Neo understood from CC spokesperson Dumitru Tira. The Constitutional Court yesterday nullified the decree by acting President Mihai Ghimpu who declared June 28 to be the 'Soviet Occupation Day'. Following the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on 28 June 1940 the USSR annexed the current territory of the Republic of Moldova, in an act called by the Soviet propaganda “liberation from bourgeois (and later, fascist) Romania”. After 50 years of living in a soviet republic, many people in Moldova still think so, which is the main reason why Ghimpu's decree has caused such controversy.