“One of the main lessons learned as a result of the events of 2009 is that everything that starts with a provocation risks ending with a profound drama. The only thing that remains is to imagine how the most enigmatic personage of the events of 2009 – the repentant killer of Iurie Roșca – snickers at the citizens of the Republic of Moldova…”
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Forerunner of Twitter Revolution

The day of April 7, 2009 became a reference day after the young people’s revolt at the third absolute victory of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) in the elections of April 5, 2009. It changed the country’s development course. However, a series of things remained unclear, the most important ones being:

• Who was behind the actions that led to the degeneration of the peaceful protest into acts of vandalism?;
• Why wasn’t the investigation started immediately by the senior administration of the country and why wasn’t the PCRM able to elucidate the causes and main players behind the degeneration of the peaceful protest into acts of vandalism?

One thing was clear from the start – the ordinary parliamentary elections of April 5, 2009 started with a big provocation planned by representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). We remember that on January 15, 2009, together with the start of the election campaign, high-ranking officials announced the identification of an ordered murder attempt on the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Iurie Roșca, the leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (PPCD). The whole election campaign was conducted against the investigation of the murder ordered by leaders of the opposition of that period. The story ended with the apologetic letter of the killer who repented and gave up fulfilling the order.

Besides the remorseful provocation, there were also other reasons of dissatisfaction among the opposition and its sympathizers. It goes to the management of the electoral process, especially the imprecise voter rolls and the covering of the campaign by the media controlled by the PCRM. In fact, there were sufficient reasons for the citizens to protest peacefully. But the enigmas were on the way. After the enigmatic degeneration of the peaceful protest, a state commission for the elucidation of the events of April 7-8 was constituted on April 24, 2009. The commission was led by Communist MP Vladimir Ţurcan (currently representative of the PSRM at the Constitutional Court), who invited representatives of the MHA, the Security and Intelligence Service, the State Guard and Protection Service, the Prosecutor General’s Office and other institutions for questioning and entrusted them with tasks.

The declared goal of the state commission was to present a report on the investigation results to Parliament until May 5, 2009. This never happened yet! Why? Probably because there were interests and hidden plans. The investigation of the events of April 7 was abandoned as it was decided to trigger snap parliamentary elections in which, following the shock caused by the April 7, 2009 events, the PCRM would have obtained a constitutional majority. In this connection, the spectacular ascension of the main protagonist of the provocation concerning the ordered murder attempt is curious. This way, the new government of Zinaida Grechanyi, which was installed on June 10, 2009, included the leader of the PPCD Iurie Roșca as deputy prime minister in charge of the coordination of the activity of the police force. This is how the leader of the PPCD reached the apogee of his political career, even if he held the post for only about three months.

So, the struggle for the instruments of power in the ordinary parliamentary elections of 2009 had a sinusoidal path:

• started with the provocation of January 15 concerning the ordering of an act of homicide by the opposition;
• ended with the enigmatic degeneration of the citizens’ peaceful protest, condemnable acts of vandalism followed by the authorities’ illegal repressions against the citizens whose blame hasn’t been even determined officially;
• degenerated together with the enigmatic interruption of the work of the state commission for the elucidation of the events of April 7-8 that didn’t present an investigation report to Parliament or public opinion;
• ending with the loss of power by the PCRM on July 29, 2009 following the leaving of the party by ex-Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu, who contributed directly to the taking over of the power by the Alliance for European Integration (AEI).

In retrospect, the history of the so-called Twitter Revolution of April 7, 2009 is very sad. However, we should note that the forerunner of this event, at least chronologically, was the leader of the PPCD Iurie Roșca. His role remained somehow undecided even if Vladimir Țurcan’s state commission was to clarify many aspects of the phenomenon of ordering of the murder of political leaders in the Republic of Moldova.

Anyway, it’s good that the contracted killer changed his mind and refused to accomplish his mission. But the consequences also hold interest. Under the influence of the mentioned events, Iurie Roșca found a new vocation – to promote the imperialist ideas of Alexandr Dughin, a notable member of the Izborsk Club that includes the current leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) Igor Dodon and several ordinary propagandists of the PSRM. Iurie Roșca seems to have assumed the role of ideologist in the fight against the Western influence on the Republic of Moldova. 

Beneficiaries and losers of April 7, 2009

At a distance of 12 years of the April 7, 2009 events, we see that we have beneficiaries of the so-called Twitter Revolution and losers. Among the losers are the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, especially the young people who aimed to protest peacefully against rulers’ abuses. We all realize that the refusal to immediately investigate the degeneration of the peaceful protest into acts of vandalism would most probably not be elucidated thoroughly.

That’s why in the current context, we have to only invoke the faith of the beneficiaries following the events of April 7, 2009 – representatives of party clans of the AEI. They, hiding behind nice slogans, participated directly or indirectly in robbing the banking system and stealing public property. Currently, some of these beneficiaries had their reputation damaged, while others served time in jail or are fugitives. This is a doubtful quality of beneficiary.

Role of leaders of PSRM in subjugating Moldova to oligarchic interests

There is one more category of real beneficiaries who were involved directly in the events of April 7, 2009, managing to appear as uninvolved. Evidently, these are the current leaders of the PSRM – Zinaida Grechanyi and Igor Dodon. Currently, the PSRM is very vocal and disseminates reproaches everywhere. But the unchallengeable truth is that Zinaida Grechanyi during the revolt of April 7, 2009 held the most important post in a parliamentary republic, of Prime Minister. If she held such a post, it is strange that she didn’t insist on the completion of the investigation of the state commission led by her mate Vladimir Țurcan. In the same connection, it should be noted that Igor Dodon in that period was the deputy of Premier Grechanyi and he had delicate missions related to the functioning of illegal schemes. The given schemes could have generated the eventual dissatisfaction of the royal clans that were behind the degeneration of the peaceful protest.

Anyway, the truth is that the current leaders of the PSRM played an enormous role in the catastrophic developments after April 7, 2009. We could learn about this role from the current leader of the PSRM Igor Dodon, who shared his plans as to the weakening of the PCRM from inside. According to wikileaks, in 2009 Dodon was ready to support Marian Lupu in his efforts to split the PCRM that was coordinated by Vlad Plahotniuc, as it became known later. This is confirmed by his betrayal of the PCRM in 2011, even if he took an oath of allegiance to the PCRM. Undoubtedly, in that period the PCRM had all the chances of regaining absolute power and thwarting the processes that are now condemned by the leaders of the PSRM.

To make it clear, it was enough for the current leaders of the PSRM to remain faithful to the PCRM and uninvolved in obscure games and not to commit the betrayal of 2011 and the Republic of Moldova would have had a different path than the one marked by the robbing of the banking system, concession of the Airport and stealing of other public assets. What can the leaders of the PSRM respond to the citizens about the terrible impact of the betrayal that they committed in relation to PCRM? Probably only one thing – it is not their blame as this is how Divine Providence decided! But what can the leaders of the PSRM tell now to the voters about the parliamentary majority with the Shor Party? Probably the same thing – Divine Providence decides. 

Conclusions

The events of April 7, 2009 remain a tragic, unclear page in the contemporary history of the Republic of Moldova. The deliberate provocations of the authorities generated the citizens’ protest that was turned into acts of vandalism with the aim of discrediting the opposition.

The human victims, injustice and anarchy of the police following the use of violence remain on the conscience of the authorities of that time and also of the provocateurs from behind who turned out to be beneficiaries of the schemes to rob the banking system and steal public property.

The consequences of the events of April 7, 2009 affected the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, primarily the young people who found out that they were cheated by political clans that later came to power under noble slogans. The events of April 7, 2009 actually triggered the massive leaving of the Republic of Moldova by talented and intrepid young people.

After the April 7, 209 events, no political force of any doctrinaire or geopolitical orientation deserves to be trusted by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, if only based on concrete facts and accountability for promises made to the voters.

The current leaders of the PSRM, who speculate propagandistically on the April 7, 2009 events, were directly involved in those events as holders of the most important state posts. Zinaida Grechanyi had direr responsibilities not to allow the abuses of the police against the citizens, especially after the violent events of April 7. Vladimir Țurcan, who now serves as the PSRM’s representative at the Constitutional Court, as the head of the state commission for the elucidation of the events of April 7–8, was entrusted with the task of presenting the results of the investigation to Parliament. Moreover, Igor Dodon and Zinaida Grechanyi could have prevented the disastrous scenarios for subjugating the Republic of Moldova to the interests of oligarchic clans, if they hadn’t committed the betrayal of November 2011.   

One of the main lessons learned as a result of the events of 2009 is that everything that starts with a provocation risks ending with a profound drama. The only thing that remains is to imagine how the most enigmatic personage of the events of 2009 – the repentant killer of Iurie Roșca – snickers at the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.