[Info-Prim Neo article from the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?” Campaign journal with Gheorghe Borzin, former patrol and sentinel police sergeant at the Tighina police commissariat] Gheorghe Borzin swore an oath at the Tighina police commissariat in 1990, at the age of 21. In 1991, some of his colleagues took the side of the separatist militia. “There were detachments of Cossacks and guard members in the town. They did what they wanted and fired shots everywhere. The people asked us to protect them. When we went to bring things in order, the guard members and the Cossacks came and we cold do nothing. We worked this way for about two months. On March 2, 1992 we received an order from Chisinau not to go out of the town,” said the former police sergeant. Afterward, they were ordered to stay at the entry posts set up near the town. Deputies of the Transnistrian region worked there as observers. “On April 1, combatants of the special services representing the central authorities entered the town. We were to bring the town under control, but were told that we should return to the previous pistons,” said Gheorghe Borzin. [They killed one of our lads and made a little star on his forehead] “In that period they caught one of our lads, Valentin Purice. They maltreated and killed him and made a little star on his forehead. His body was thrown at the waste dump in Parcani village. The same happened to an employee of our commissariat,” said Gheorghe Borzin. At the beginning of May, they received instructions not to fire as the situation started to improve. “We understood that it was a political conflict then. The Transnistrian deputies asked for 30 seats in Parliament. Also then, Igor Smirnov was arrested. He tried to flee to Russia, but was stopped in Kiev and sent back to the region to improve the situation. But the Moldovan authorities refused to give the deputies 30 seats. They offered them only 22 or 25 seats,” said Gheorghe Borzin. He also said that at 12 noon they were told that a ceasefire agreement was signed. In several hours, they saw vehicles loaded with arms going to the school situated near the commissariat. “Several men took boxes with guns to the building of the publishing house near the school. Our lads detained two of them and asked them why they carried munitions if a ceasefire agreement was signed. We presumed that they prepared an assault. There were other men inside the building. They killed their own men so that we could not take them alive. We later understood that they prepared an aggression that night because they were not given the 30 seats in Parliament they asked for,” said the combatant. [We occupied the town three times, but every time they ordered us to return to the old positions] Gheorghe Borzin said that Tighina was occupied by the forces of the central authorities three times, but he did not understand why they were ordered to return to the old positions. “It is very hard to conquer a town. There were many snipers. Unprepared young men were brought, who started to run away when the fighting started. Employees of the special services and police officers took them behind fences and in other places so that they weren’t killed,” said the former police sergeant. “That situation lasted from June 19, 1992 until August 2, when we were taken to Causeni. They demanded removing the police from the town. On August 1, the Russian peacekeepers came to the town.” [The police commissariat in Tighina has not been yielded] Gheorghe Borzin said that throughout the armed conflict, they were pressed to take the side of the Transnistrian militia. “The killing of our men was like a warning that we will all be killed if we did not support them. There were about 300 police officers plus officers of the special services. The militia was afraid of those servicemen who were well-prepared and armed. They tried to convince us that Moldova left us and did not care about us,” he stated. The former sergeant also said that after the conflict ended, several police officers returned to the commissariat, but the cooperation with the militia did not work well. “During several years, we could not work normally. The residents sought help from us. We have not yielded that commissariat until how,” he said with pride. He also said that the people in Tighina, as 20 years ago, are afraid. The town during many years had been in a state of assault. That’s why there are not many people on the streets after 8pm. [Mariana Galben, Info-Prim Neo]