Former deputy commissioner of Chisinau and municipal police chief Iacob Gumenita said the Parliament Building and the Residential Office could not be protected on April 7, 2009 because most of the police officers were seriously injured by the protesters. Gumenita was questioned as a witness in the case of Generals Botnari and Papuc on September 15, Info-Prim Neo reports. Iacob Gumenita told the judges that he also had been injured in the altercations. Some protesters broke two of his teeth, while a sharp stone thrown by the crowd cut his shoe and fractured his leg. He said he does not know who staged the April protests, but in sure that the Brega brothers are somehow connected with this. “On April 6, I was informed that the Brega brothers lodged an application with the Chisinau City Hall, asking to be allowed to hold a protest against vote rigging,” Gumenita said. Asked by the judges if the leaders tried to clam things down in the Great National Assembly Square, Iacob Gumenita said he saw Chisinau councilor Oleg Cernei, who was shouting “Fire” together with the protesters. The former Chisinau police chief said he does not know cases of maltreatment of young people in police stations. In the hearing, neither the judges nor the prosecutors asked Gumenita to comment on the pictures showing him kicking protesters. He was only asked if Valeriu Boboc had a criminal record. Gumenita said two legal cases were opened against him, one over theft and another one over drug keeping. In another case concerning the April events, Iacob Gumenita is accused of misconduct in office that resulted in the death of Valeriu Boboc. He is investigated on the outside.