Fiodor Ghelici, president of the public association “Moldova mea”, who is of Ukrainian ethnicity, said he became the victim of an aggressive attack staged by police officers in Strășeni for the reason that he spoke Russian. The activist said the phenomenon when politicians divide society according to ethnic criteria and the spoken language spreads also among the police.
In a news conference at IPN, Fiodor Ghelici said that even if he is a Ukrainian ethnic, he has always defended Moldova’s interests and become involved in developing a prosperous state. He has never thought he will reach a day when a police officer will tell him to leave for Russia because he speaks Russian. The incident occurred when he went with his wife to the farmers market in Strășeni. While he was waiting at the parking place, a policewoman approached him and addressed him in Romanian. He told the policewoman, who didn’t present herself, that he didn’t understand what she told him. He ultimately witnessed an aggressive attack by the police officer who told him she is not obliged to speak Russian and suggested he should leave to Russia.
Fiodor Ghelici said the second policeman who approached them to see what happened adopted a similar behavior. As a result, the police officers drew up a report that he signed only after he wrote on it that he wasn’t provide an interpreter. After this case, he filed a complaint to the Internal Protection and Anticorruption Service of the Ministry of the Interior.
The activist noted that on another day he went to the market in Strășeni, a police officer approached him again. This time he answered the policeman in Ukrainian and the police officer suggested that they should speak Russian. Moreover, he called the 112 service to ask for an interpreter in the communication with the policeman, but the situation was overcome when a deputy head of the Strășeni Police Inspectorate approached them and apologized for the created situation.
Fiodor Ghelici stated the electoral fever in which the politicians, who confront speakers of different languages, are now affects the police as well. Moldova is a small country where this division should not exist in society. The developed states, even the small ones, have by two, three or even four official languages, plus regional languages. In Moldova this is a sensitive issue that is used by politicians for personal purposes.
The civic activist called on the Ministry of the Interior to examine this case and not to allow people who do not respect the human rights to enter the system and to contribute to strengthening society, not to dividing it, as it happens now.
