Voronin provoked April events, Sergiu Banari

The biggest provoker of the April 7 events was ex-President Vladimir Voronin, who had labeled the Moldovan people “a {mamaliga}[*] and nothing more” in 2003, and has since continued to fire insults, which eventually resulted in disturbances in April 2009, - declared the politician Sergei Banari, on Wednesday, after being heard by the prosecutors as a witness in connection with the April events, Info-Prim Neo reports. “I am absolutely sure that the April events, the attacks on the governmental buildings, were premeditated actions planned by certain forces. There were many well-organized persons within the crowd and I think it was them who carried out the attacks on the governmental buildings”, says Sergei Banari, a councilman in Balti and a former independent candidate in the parliamentary elections. Speaking about his role in the events, Banari said that on April 7 he was standing together with the then opposition politicians, Vladimir Filat, Calin Vieru and Leonid Bujor, outside the Presidential Palace, calling on the crowds to protest peacefully. The councilman says the 7th of April was the biggest tragedy in Moldova's recent history. Also on Wednesday, the prosecutors heard Justice Minister Alexandru Tanase and author Nicolae Dabija. Other persons quizzed earlier in connection with the April events include Vladimir Voronin, Mark Tkaciuk, Vladimir Turcan, Artur Resetnicov, Ion Morei, Oleg Cernei, Mihai Godea, Calin Vieru. ([*]The Romanian word {mamaliga} literally means a dish made from boiled cornmeal, similar to the Italian {polenta}, and is used in a disparaging way to refer to submissive persons who lack in initiative)