Media nongovernmental organizations express their concern about the limitation of the right to information of the journalists who went to the head office of the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) on January 13 to inform themselves about the results of the meeting of the party’s Political Bureau. While waiting for the representatives of the PDM to come out to make statements, the journalists found themselves locked in the conference room, while the leaders of the party left, avoiding the questions of the press, IPN reports.

“We condemn these actions and describe them as serious violations of the legislation and antidemocratic deviations. We remind that under the Law on Access to Information, anyone has the right to ask for, receive and make known official information. Also, the Press Law guarantees the journalist’ right to obtain and disseminate information, while the Penal Code stipulates that the intentional hampering of the mass media in their work is punished in accordance with the law,” reads the statement.

The media NGOs call on the Ministry of the Interior to examine this case and take the required measures with regard to the persons who hindered the journalists’ access to information. The Democratic Party of Moldova is requested to investigate the situation and to publicly inform about the taken steps and to exclude such violations in the future.

The statement was signed by the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Electronic Press Association, the Center “Acces – Info”, the Committee for the Freedom of the Media, etc.

The Democrat Party already reacted by saying that it regrets this situation, which it calls absurd, and will make sure that the communication with the mass media is efficient in the future.