Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Buzu said that 24 employees of the Temporary Placement Center for Persons with Disabilities based in Bădiceni village of Soroca district will be penalized following investigations that revealed the inhuman conditions and degrading treatment of beneficiaries, IPN reports.

"We have a serious problem if we did not manage to protect these people, to protect their dignity and rights. Two separate investigations were launched in Bădiceni. A number of changes will be made there," the minister stated in the program "Resumé" on RliveTV channel.

A journalistic investigation revealed that people with disabilities who stayed at the center were forced to work and were subjected to physical violence.

"We will also make substitutions and we will have a different approach so that such cases do not happen again," said Alexei Buzu.

The minister stressed that the responsibility for this situation is shared at all levels of management.

"If such cases happen, when the simple dignity and rights of people are violated, the social worker, the head of service, the director of the institution, the secretary of state, the minister are guilty," said Minister Buzu.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Parliament’s Human Rights Commission Grigore Novac informed that members of the commission made an unannounced visit to the center in Bădiceni. As a result, it was found that the beneficiaries of the center were exploited through labor, and the living conditions there are inhuman and degrading.