The members of the “Petrenco group” said that for them, the best way in which the state can apologize for their arrest and abusive detention after the protest of 2015 is to criminally punish the persons “who fulfilled Plahotniuc’s orders” and to make them pay the damages that Moldova was obliged to pay by the ECHR.
In a news conference at IPN, Pavel Grigorciuc, president of the Right to Justice Association, said it would be right if the parliamentary majority, the Ministry of Justice review the decision concerning the judges and prosecutors who take illegal decisions and violate human rights.
The ex-MP said that owing to the political cases, the people have to find refuge abroad or even stay in jail. If things are not brought in order, the country will remain with a bad image at international level and will suffer the consequences, including financially. “It is not clear why the people have to seek justice in international organizations for the national courts to see that it is a fabricated case,” stated Pavel Grigorciuc.
He noted the ECHR judgment by which Moldova was convicted in the case of Petrenco and others was harsh. The Court held that there was no criminal component in the protest mounted at the Prosecutor’s Office on September 6, 2015 and there were no reason to arrest the organizers.
Alexandr Roșco, a member of the “Petrenco group”, said the ECHR judgment is a logical end of the epopee of a fabricated case and he will not forgive those to blame. He read a list of those involved “in the execution of the Petrenco group” by order of the former Democratic leader Vladimir Plahotniuc. Among the executors, he named: Silviu Mușuc – the police officer who ordered to arrest them; Dorin Damir – who unofficially supervised the case in court; Igor Popa – another ‘supervisor’; Nicu Șendrea, Alexandru Arcer, Ion Brânză, Ion Dulghieru, Maxim Motînga – the prosecutors who fabricated the case; Ludmila Ursu, Natalai Clevadî, Tatiana Bivor, Grigore Cazacu, Angela Ciubotaru, Anatolie Galben, Ghenadie Bîrnaz, Denis Băbălău – the judges of the Rîșcani branch of the Chisinau City Court who ordered to remand the group in detention, and Tatiana Bivol, Grigore Cazacu and Angela Ciubotaru – who passed the final conviction decision.
The members of the “Petrenco group” demand to hold those from this list accountable. If the institutions for which they work do not take the necessary decisions, they will go to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on September 14 published its judgment in the case of Petrenco and others versus the Republic of Moldova, noting that Moldova violated a number of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the applicants’ arrest and detention following a demonstration on criminal charges of participation in mass disorders and the imposition on them of a prohibition on participating in public gatherings after their release from pre-trial detention for some three years.
The High Court ascertained that the applicants’ remand in custody and house arrest had been unlawful and weren’t based on a reasonable suspicion that they had committed an offence. It obliged Moldova to pay a total of €63,750 in respect of non‑pecuniary damage and €4,000 in respect of the costs and expenses incurred before the Court.
The Prosecutor General’s Office today announced that it decided to drop the accusations against the persons charged in the case of “Petrenco group”, namely organization and participation in mass disorder.
