The public TV channel Moldova 1 has a new director as of August 28. This is Ecaterina Stratan, who held this post on an interim basis until she was elected director, replacing Mircea Surdu who tendered his resignation when his term in office expired. Ecaterina Stratan was named for a five-year term. Five members of the Supervisory Board of the National Public Broadcaster “TeleRadio-Moldova” voted for her. The other two candidates – journalists George Iosip and Sergiu Praporshchuk – gained no vote. According to her project of intent, Ecaterina Stratan plans to transform the public TV channel into “an institution of the present” and to correctly and equidistantly inform the viewers. Ecaterina Stratan, who also heads the News Department of the public TV channel, said the institution reached a new development level in the recent period, but a lot is yet to be done. The new director said that to change the state of affairs at Moldova 1, the personnel division should be reformed and emphasis should be placed on team work so that this provides products of a higher quality.

The meeting of the Supreme Security Council that was convened by President Igor Dodon for August 29 didn’t take place. The Democratic Party announced that the administration of the Government and Parliament will not take part in the meeting because the agenda included issues that are not within the competence of the Council and of the President. The Moldovan Government’s decision to declare the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata was such a subject. Later, President Dodon expressed his bewilderment at such a decision, saying that if the Council’s meetings are “boycotted” again, he could modify the composition of the Council. Igor Dodon also said that the subject concerning the declaration of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin persona non grata, which was invoked by the Democrats, was the fifth item on the agenda that also included other important issues, such as the irregularities committed in the process of selling the unused property of the National Army in 2013-2017, the activity of foreign intelligence services on Moldova’s territory and others.

The Prosecutor General’s Office on August 30 announced that the former head of Criuleni district Iurie Andriuta, together with the manager of the municipal enterprise “Edilitate Criuleni”, will be tried for organizing and taking part in abuse of power that resulted in considerable damage to the public interests. The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office completed the investigation and remitted the case to court. The offender, who held the post of head of Criuleni district, is accused of instructing all the managers of the district education institutions to make sure that the subsequent construction and repair works were executed through the agency of “Edilitate Criuleni” that was founded by the district council. By prior arrangement, the culprits performed construction and repair works at the facilities managed by the Criuleni district council through the agency of “Edilitate Criuleni”, by inflating the volume and cost of works. Specialists of the State Construction Inspectorate assessed the damage caused to the public interests at 252,000 lei. The ex-district head concluded a blame acceptance agreement with the prosecutor.

An ordinary court of law on August 30 imposed a fine of 113,000 lei on former deputy minister of the interior Veaceslav Ceban in a case of corruption. His relative Stanislav Caraman was fined 150,000 lei. Investigators established that Stanislav Caraman, working at the Customs Service, on the pretext of having influence on prosecutors through Veaceslav Ceban, asked for €60,000 from a person. The two managed to get €12,000, while the second tranche of €30,000 was transmitted under the control of officers of the National Anticorruption Center.

The inspector on duty, inferior inspector and senior officer of the remand prison’s guard service and the assistant commander of the Special Escort and Guard Battalion of the Chisinau Police Division on September 1 were suspended from posts for the period of the internal inquiry initiated by the Personnel Inspection Division of the Inspectorate in order to elucidate all the circumstances of the death of Andrei Braguta. The 32-year-old man was arrested after he came into a conflict with patrolling inspectors who imposed a fine for speeding on him in the middle of August. The General Police Inspectorate specified that the young man died from respiratory failure and purulent bronchopneumonia and this fact was confirmed by medical certificates. The bruises that the young man had on the body were the result of aggression on the part of his cell mates, who said that Braguta had a deviant behavior. Lawyers of “Promo-LEX” Association said the man was arrested illegally and the way in which he was treated by the police led to the worsening of his mental state and, ultimately, to death.

A 48-year-old woman suffered serious injuries in a powerful home blast in Hrubna Noua village of Falesti district in the morning of September 3. Her granddaughter aged four was found dead under the debris after almost four hours of searches. According to the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service, the child was playing outside, near the house. When the explosion occurred, the girl was hurt and covered by debris. The child’s grandmother was hospitalized in a serious state, with burns on almost 75% of the body.

Selection by Elena Nistor