The legal action taken by the Prosecutor General’s Office against the director of the daily “Timpul de dimineata” (“Morning Time”) Constantin Tanase is a first step towards carrying out President Vladimir Voronin’s instructions to deal with political and media financing from abroad given to the Security and Information Service, the editorialist said at a news conference on February 12, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to Constantin Tanase, the authorities aim to discredit one of the most important Romanian publication in Moldova and in such a way all the independent press and the guild of independent journalists of Moldova. At the same time, they aim to accuse Romania of supporting xenophobic publications that incite to hatred, Tanase said. The jurists said that the accusations leveled against him must be redirected to the senior authorities and to the President Vladimir Voronin because in reality the head of state instigate hatred and divides the society by creating alternative unions of writers and journalists. Voronin declared war to the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, to the majoritarian Romanian ethnics from Moldova, to the Romanian intellectuality. The actions aiming at dividing the Moldovan society taken by Voronin during the seven years while in office is a serious state offence, the journalist said. “Not the ‘xenophobic’ statements of Constantin Tanase angered Voronin, but the independent policy of the paper and the meetings held every Sunday in the square of the National Opera House,” Tanase said. According to the cited source, the steps taken by the Prosecutor General’s Office show that Moldova does no longer witness blameless departures, but serious and dangerous deviations from the democratic norms. Tanase also said that the Office’s actions are directed against the press that inconveniences the ruling party and the head of state. Under such circumstances, no one is out of danger, that’s why the journalists from the Democratic press must make common cause now more than ever, Constantin Tanase said. Alina Turcanu, reporter for the daily “Timpul de dimineata”, said at the conference that that the haste in which the Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating this case arouses questions, while it ignores the investigative materials published by the paper that reveal illegalities committed by the power. Sorina Stefarta, editor-in-chief of the paper, stressed that the investigation was initiated following the publication of articles and commentaries in Russian based on Constantin Tanase’s statements taken out of context. On February 11, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced that it initiated legal proceedings against the director of the newspaper “Timpul de dimineata” Constantin Tanase, over his actions aimed at instigating national, racial and religious hatred or dismemberment (article 346 of the Penal Code). According to prosecutors, on February 3, 2008, during the protest organised by the Union of Journalists of Moldova in the square of the National Opera House in Chisinau, Constantin Tanase and others incited to national separation and hatred and to limiting the rights of the Russians from Moldova. The Independent Press Association, the Independent Journalism Centre and the Electronic Press Association expressed their concern about the Prosecutor General’s intention to take legal action against participants in the February 3 protest. They called on the Prosecutor General’s Office not to violate the constitutional right to freely express one’s opinion and not to yield to political pressure when investigating the cases.