Protesters gathered outside Parliament on Thursday, March 21, at the call of the NOW bloc to condemn the arrest of political activists Gheorghe Petic and Sergiu Cebotari, which they deem illegal. The protesters chanted “Freedom”, “We want justice, not corruption!”, and slogans in support of NOW. Meanwhile, the bloc’s MPs promised they would stop “the crimes the regime is planning”, IPN reports.
“When we are united, nobody stands a chance against their own people. We need to overcome the fear cultivated over the years by all the governments, especially by the Plahotniuc criminal regime more recently. When we overcome this fear and know clearly what we want for ourselves, for our country, for its future, for the next generations, for our children and grandkids, nobody will be able to stop us on our march to freedom, peace, prosperity and understanding among all our citizens”, said MP Andrei Nastase, leader of the Dignity and Truth Party (DA).
MP Inga Grigoriu, deputy leader of DA, said the protest was one in defence of justice. She blasted the “insidious, criminal and cowardly regime” for jailing her “resistance brothers” Sergiu Cebotari and Gheorghe Petic.
Octavian Ticu, MP of the NOW bloc, said that “this bloc, made of two parties born out of the protestatary spirit, will be the government alternative for Moldova”. “Yesterday, the regime showed there is an obvious complicity between Dodon and Plahotniuc. NOW leaders were in Brussels, two of our supporters Petic and Cebotari were sentenced to jail without any grounds, we were gassed in Orhei, so they decided to call this meeting of Parliament while our leaders were away, hoping we would boycott it. But we will go, we will be there in Parliament, where we must defend our rights”, Ticu told the crowd.
“We are 26 MPs, but we will do a different kind of politics than what’s usually done in Moldova. They want to continue the old way, the politics of barter: you get a ministry, I get a billion, you get a bank, I get a country, and so on. We want a different kind of politics, one were justice is above everything else”, spoke MP Lilian Carp.
MP Dumitru Alaiba praised the people who weren’t afraid and protested, despite Moldova being a fear-based state. “Today, delegated by you, we will enter Parliament and the fight will go on both on the street and in Parliament”, he promised.
On Wednesday, March 20, former border police officer Gheorghe Petic was sentenced to three and a half years in jail, plus a 30,000 lei fine, for rape. The ruling was issued by the Orhei Court and can be appealed at the Chisinau Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, Sergiu Cebotari, former deputy chief at the Post of Moldova, currently abroad, was sentenced to eight years in jail. He was charged with fraud and forced labor, among other things. The court banned him from management positions and entrepreneurial activity for four years. He also was ordered to pay 308,000 lei to the victims.
