Victims of April 2009 events will benefit from psychological rehabilitation

Minister of Justice Alexandru Tanase suggested creating a psychological rehabilitation center for the employees of the Ministry of the Interior and civilians who were affected by the April 2009 riots. He made the proposal at the May 14 meeting of the governmental commission for identifying and helping the victims of the April 7 events, Info-Prim Neo reports. The head of the Institute for Human Rights Vanu Jereghi, who is the Minister of Justice's consultant, said the psychological assistance should be offered by a nongovernmental organization, for example the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria”. The center's head Ludmila Popovich will be invited at the next meeting, where this proposal will be discussed and the related costs will be estimated. Vanu Jereghi said 467 persons had been victims of the April 2009 violent protests, according to the data of NGOs and other unofficial sources. Earlier, the Ministry of the Interior announced that the victims among police officers totaled 271. “The persons who were tortured in police stations represent the most vulnerable category. The Government will provide compensatory payments to all the victims,” said Alexandru Tanase. Valeriu Oprea, the head of the Ministry of the Interior's Human Resources Division, said all the police officers except Ion Perju, who is investigated in connection with Valeriu Boboc's death, benefited from state assistance. The next meeting of the commission will take place next week.