The initiative group for creating the political party “Vointa Poporului” (“People’s Will”) said two brothers placed in the professional parental assistance service were ill-treated, one of them by the mayor, while another one by the parental assistant. On June 26, when it is celebrated the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, representatives of the initiative group, in a news conference at IPN, said the law enforcement bodies didn’t appropriately investigate the case.
Elena Daranuta, local councilor in Tocuz, Causeni and teacher at the local school, said that Ion and Adrian Ceban were placed in the professional parental assistance service at the family of Tatiana Melnic, a woman who lives in Tocuz. On April 3, it was established that Ion, who is a fifth grader, was absent from classes for three days. His elder brother Adrian, who is a seventh grader, said that Ion was sick at home because he was beaten by the mayor for taking apples and candies from a place that belonged to the mayor.
“I informed the sector police officer, the social assistant, the family doctor and the school’s principal. They all went to see why the child missed classes. They found out that they boy was beaten with a flexible tube and was kicked by the mayor of the village, who also heads the commission for children’s rights of the Tocuz Local Council. Later, they all went to the mayor’s office to report the case. They notified of this case, but nothing else followed,” said Elena Daranuta.
The local councilor noted that the parental assistant who was looking after the children refused to go and have a legal-medical examination, while the sector police officer didn’t interrogate the involved persons and transferred the case to another police officer so as to avoid coming into conflict with the mayor. “The Causeni Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case through lack of evidence,” said the councilor.
Meanwhile, the brothers fled to Tanatari, Causeni, to the family that raised them before they were placed in the professional parental assistance service. “They ran away because Ion was beaten by the mayor, while Adrian was beaten with a hoe in the family where he lived and was left without food for several days because he took a bike and rode it without telling anyone,” stated Elena Daranuta.
Nicolae Garbu, the representative of the initiative group for creating the political party “People’s Will”, said the lack of appropriate reaction on the part of the law enforcement bodies is worrisome. “The law enforcement bodies, the police, those who managed this case before it was dropped didn’t fulfill their duties,” he stated, saying this case will be remitted to the European Court of Human Rights.
“The Republic of Moldova is punished for such cases by the ECHR, which awards hundreds of thousands of euros in damages. This money is paid by us, the people, and, if no drastic measures are taken, the citizens will become poorer,” stated Stefan Uratu, a member of the initiative group. He specified that the Republic of Moldova, even if it signed many international conventions and treaties in the field of human rights, is a country where torture is still present, while the state tolerates such a situation.
