The Moldovan delegation to the Joint Control Commission (JCC) reacted to Tiraspol’s assertion that the Moldovan police violated the agreement on the work of law enforcement agencies in the Security Zone. In a response to IPN, the Bureau for Reintegration Policies described Tiraspol’s statement as an unsuccessful attempt to justify the abuses committed by the region’s law enforcement bodies.
It happens after the force in the region illegally stopped a farmer from Molovata Nouă village on September 4. He was transporting several tonnes of sunflower seeds, harvested from the fields he owned, and police employees prevented the seizure of agricultural production and machinery by the representatives of Tiraspol, the Bureau’s response says.
This incident is part of the series of intimidation actions by the Transnistrian force against farmers of the Cocieri plateau, who cultivate their land along the Rybnitsa-Tiraspol route. The official Chisinau describes the information presented in the statement of Tiraspol’s delegation to the JCC as “complete distortion and defiance on their part of the essence of the documents approved within the JCC, as well as of the obligations assumed on this segment of the Security Zone”.
“The police intervened in the perimeter of the arable land under the management of the Cocieri commune and its inhabitants and will intervene each time to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens to the free movement and unhindered cultivation of the land they own. Moreover, the documents approved by the JCC expressly stipulate that Cocieri and Molovata Nouă localities are served exclusively by the police of the Republic of Moldova and, in their vicinity, there is no place for other bodies that are not empowered by law,” reads the response.
The Moldovan delegation to the JCC said that this incident is not the only one and over the years the police reacted swiftly in a number of cases when the mobile teams of the so-called Transnistrian border guards or customs officers took actions of intimidation and persecution of citizens. ”Following the September 4 incident, the police took notice and are taking measures to identify the representatives of the Tiraspol forces and hold them accountable according to the provisions of the current legislation,” said the Reintegration Bureau.
On Thursday, the Transnistrian press disseminated a statement by Tiraspol’s delegation to the JCC by which this accuses the Moldovan police of violating the agreement on the work of law enforcement agencies in the Security Zone. According to this statement, on September 4, Moldovan police entered a part of the territory of the Security Zone which is under Transnistrian control. In Tiraspol, it is considered that the police in this way tried to exert pressure on the other side in resolving an economic conflict. “This provocation could have had very serious consequences,” reads the statement by Tiraspol’s delegation.
