Witnesses in trial: four young persons were sentenced to 10 years in jail unjustly

A group of people, who presented themselves as witnesses in a trial, said the Criuleni district court sentenced four persons aged between 21 and 32 to 10 years’ imprisonment unjustly. They were found guilty of attacking a person, who died several days later as a result of the received injuries, Info-Prim Neo reports. One of the witnesses, Valeriu Ciobanu told a news conference on Thursday that the convicted persons could not commit that crime. He said at least one of the accused persons was with him on a trip that day and could not be involved in the battle. “I think this is a cynical case of violation of the human rights as innocent people were convicted,” Valeriu Ciobanu said. Another witness, Petru Pavlenco said he saw how the victim was beaten by other persons and then taken by a tax to Onitcani. “He had not been in the village afterward. It happened on August 4. On August 15 I heard that Valeriu Ursu (the victim) died because he had been beaten by Morarescu, Samuil, Buruian and Zamfirov (the convicts). Samuil was not in the village that day. He was in the neighboring village Ustia. Zamfirov was in Mereni, in the village of his wife,” said Petru Pavlenco. “We were convinced that it will be a fair trial that will respect the human rights, but it wasn’t so,” said Valeriu Ciobanu. The four young men have been in prison since 2008, when the legal case was opened. The case is now to be examined by the Chisinau Court of Appeals. The witnesses are decided to appeal to the ECHR if the Court of Appeals does not quash the decision of the Criuleni district court.