A number of NGOs express their indignation at the attacks on person, labeling and intimidation to which the director of the Gagauz association “Piligrim-Demo” Mihail Sirkeli is subject by the administration of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. The NGOs signed a statement by which they ask the region’s administration to examine this situation within the ethics bodies of the People’s Assembly, IPN reports.

Among the signatories are the Association of Independent Press, the National NGO Center and the Independent Journalism Center. According to these, statements by MPs in which Mihail Sirkeli is subject to a verbal attack with personal insults started to appear on the official website of the People’s Assembly. It happened after a group of public organizations published an open letter addressed to the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah, with the request not to sign the local Law on Broadcasting, which was adopted by the People’s Assembly in two readings on March 1.

The NGOs says that the head of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia Dmitrii Constantinov on March 3 described the approaches of “Piligrim-Demo” as ‘basement discussions’. On March 12, another two MPs, Ivan Topal and Ivan Burgudji, accused Sirkeli of ‘actions aimed at discrediting the Gagauz region and the administration of its public authorities’. Furthermore, this was labeled as ‘influence agent paid to promote the policy of the Center for liquidating the rights and powers of the autonomous region’.

The NGOs describe the appearance of such statements on the official website of the People’s Assembly as an orchestrated intimidation campaign aimed at criticizing a representative of civil society and demand that the persons to blame for this should offer public apologies to Mihail Sirkeli at www.halktoplushu.md.

The NGOs also ask the administration of the People’s Assembly to examine this situation within its ethics bodies and not to allow the use of administrative resources for illegal intimidation actions.