The editorial office of the news portal “Vocea Basarabiei” publicly expresses its concern and indignation with the attacks on journalists committed recently by representatives of opposition parties. In an open letter quoted by IPN, the editorial staff says the most recent case happened on June 29,when the leader of the PPPDA Andrei Nastase, together with an activist of the party who presented himself as a representative of the press, insulted the portal’s filming crew.
“Reporter Eliza Botnari was accused of misinformation and told in an imposed way to apologize publicly before the camera during a livestream on Facebook made by the insulter. The reason was a news items published on the portal “Vocea Basarabiei” one day earlier, about the incident that occurred in front of the Embassy of Russia, when a man attacked a group of young people who protested against the Russian military presence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Later we ascertained that the attacker took an active part in the protests mounted by the Platform “Dignity and Truth” and was involved in a number of provocations. This fact was mentioned in the news article,” says the letter.
The editorial office of the news portal considers the aggressive treatment of the reporter was an infringement of the rights and freedoms of the journalist and the goal of the incident was to intimidate and shut up. “Vocea Basarabiei” says it is an independent media outlets without political sympathies and its feature and news articles respect the professional deontology and journalistic ethics and the accusations made against it have no moral and legal basis.
“Given the recent attacks on journalists committed by leaders and supporters of this party, the editorial office of the portal requests the state institutions, mass media nongovernmental organizations and embassies working in the Republic of Moldova to take attitude and end these abuses. The right to free expression is guaranteed by the Constitution, the current laws and the international conventions to which the Republic of Moldova is a party. Consequently, no one can dictate what to say and what to not say as long as the legal and moral public norms are not violated,” reads the open letter.
