Two media NGOs qualify law enforcement bodies’ actions as abuse and attempt to intimidate media

The Independent Press Association (IPA) and the Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) call the incident occurred at the “SP” editorial office in Balti an abuse by the law enforcement bodies and an obvious attempt to intimidate the independent press. In a joint statement released by IPA and IJC, the media NGOs express their deep concern over the seizure of a part of “SP” newspaper’s print-run by the Balti Economic Police on March 28. The statement says that the seizure of the printed copies is one of the most serious forms of obstruction of the freedom of expression. The Balti Economic Police’s actions stopped the “SP” newspaper’s issue in Romanian from appearing, thus causing damage to its readers and SP. The signers request the Interior Ministry to start investigation into the legality of the Balti Economic Police’s actions. They also call on the Parliamentary Committee for culture, science, education, youth, sports and mass media and the Committee for human rights to react to the cases of obstruction of freedom of press and expression, occurred on March 27 and 28, 2007. The incident in Balti occurred one day after the law enforcement bodies had arrested in Chisinau two reporting crews. The national and international public opinion condemned the move qualifying them as an attack on the freedom of press and fundamental human freedoms on the whole.