They dressed him in a bulletproof vest and fired at him to see if the vest was resistant, CAMPAIGN JOURNALS

[Info-Prim Neo article of the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?”. Campaign journal with Ion Levinta, the head of guard unit of March 2, 1992 at the Dubasari district police commissariat] In February 1992, Ion Levinta was sent from the Orhei district police commissariat to work as an operative officer at the Dubasari district police commissariat. On March 1, he took over the guard unit. “I entrusted colleagues in civvies with the task of examining the situation in Dubasari. They came back and said that the roads were closed with bars and fixed and mobile posts of armed Cossacks and guard members were set up. I then thought that they planned to attack the commissariat,” said the former police officer. He reported to Chisinau and was ordered to stay clam and do nothing as they did so before as well. The same day, a drunken Cossack came and tried to go in to see how things stood, but we did not allow him to enter. Reports came that the town was being blocked. “At about 8pm, we saw forces approaching the commissariat and were told that we will be attacked,” said Ion Levinta. [Everything stated like a provocation. The Cossacks themselves shot the Transnistrian militia chief] At about 10pm, they were phoned from the disco club located not far from the commissariat and told that two inebriated Cossacks threatened the people with guns. Ion Levinta thought it was a provocation, but sent colleagues in civvies to examine the situation and disarm the Cossacks. In about ten minutes, he heard pistol shots. The colleagues who returned from the mission said the chief of the Transnistrian militia came by a car and the Cossacks shot him as they thought he was the head of the commissariat. Afterward, they drove off. “We thus blocked the doors and windows as we realized the commissariat will be attacked. We had five rifles and several pistols for 36 lads,” related Ion Levinta. ”They started to phone us and threaten us. They blamed us for the killing of the militia chief. About 300 persons with military equipment surrounded the commissariat. They demanded that we surrender. They blocked our phones and we could not call to Chisinau. Afterward, they began to break the doors and windows,” said the combatant. At 4am on March 2, the opponents stood with the guns in front of them, ready to shoot each other. They phoned the ministry and asked what to do. They were told to keep the positions, but not to shoot. “They did not allow us to shoot as Snegur (Mircea Snegur, Moldova’s first President – e.n.) was to sign an agreement on the entry into the UN,” said the quoted source. [We agreed that they will let us go, but it didn’t happen as we planned] They agreed with the Cossacks that they will allow them to get into a bus and go to Chisinau. But a conflict was caused and two Cossacks were shot. They started to throw grenades at the commissariat and it burned to the ground. ”We got onto a bus and saw a Cossack preparing to throw a grenade. But their commander stopped him, saying he promised they will kill no one. However, they did not let us go. They took us to the building of the district council and filmed us and photographed us there. A Cossack wanted to shoot us, but another Cossack stopped him and they started to fight. They both were under the influence,” said Ion Levinta. In several hours, they took them to Tiraspol by a bus. There, they put them in very small underground blockhouses, by 18 persons in one blockhouse. They did not have air to breath and lost consciousness. “They beat us and gave us no food. We were given by only ten seconds to go to the toilet. There was a young man who could not go to the toilet for 18 days,” said the former policeman. [They tried the bulletproof vests on us] Ion Levinta said that if they didn’t do what they were told they set dogs on them. “A man was dressed in a bulletproof vest and they fired at him to see how much the vest will resist. In the evening or in the morning, when they wanted, they took by one man out and 20 men beat him until he lost consciousness,” said the combatant. A kind of ‘death corridor’ was created for them. The guards stood with rubber sticks on both of the sides and beat the men forced to go through that corridor. They did not have water and drank the water accumulated in the garbage bin. They had stomachaches. Ion Levinta became infected with hepatitis. [In 18 days, I lost 21 kilograms and got hepatitis] ”We stayed in those blockhouses for 18 days. I lost 21 kilograms. Afterward, they changed us for guard members arrested by the Moldovan authorities. Seven men remained for one more week, but were then changed too,” said Ion Levinta. According to him, the constitutional authorities did not want to change them at first, saying the guard members were bandits, while our lads were not and they should be set free unconditionally. “They arrested then a general of the guard members and changed us for the general and a part of the guard members. They should have done so from the very beginning and nobody would have suffered. We were all released, but six of the 36 are already dead, while the rest are sick,” stated the combatant. After he was set free, Ion Levinta continued to work for the Dubasari commissariat and served there until the end of the armed conflict. Now he is in litigation with the authorities of the country he served as they don’t give him what he serves as a war detainee. [Mariana Galben, Info-Prim Neo]