Riot in Chisinau remand centre

At least 10 lawyers waited today until afternoon in front of the remand centre no.13 in Chisinau trying unsuccessfully to obtain the right to confer with their clients. The access to the penitentiary was denied in connection with an incident which occurred yesterday. Ghenadie Tatar, one of the lawyers, told Info-Prim Neo that he doesn’t possess official information about what happened, but it seems that some of the prisoners rioted. The reason however is still unknown. Four special destination squads intervened to end the riot. The lawyers are denied access to the centre and the administration refuses to talk about this issue. Those who managed to get in touch by telephone with the prisoners, claim that many of them were cruelly beaten, the lawyer said. The Department for Penitentiaries said in a press release that the incident originated in a cell where four prisoners refused to obey the detention rules, assaulted and threatened the correctional officers with physical harm. Moreover, one of the prisoners allegedly attacked a guardian who earlier refused to illegally pass a packet to the cell. The prison officers tried to isolate the respective prisoners. However they fought back and instigated the inmates from the neighbouring cells to mass disorder and disobedience, the press release reads. According to the Department, physical force and special means were employed to counter the attempt of destabilising the activity of the penitentiary. At present, the situation in the remand centre is kept under control.