The President of the Parliament Committee for national security, defense and public order, Chiril Moţpan, says that, from his point of view, "on September 6, 2018, in Moldova, a kidnapping took place, which was a criminal action committed with the approval of some state dignitaries and the involvement of state bodies”. The MP presented in a press conference the obtained information regarding the expulsion from Moldova, one year ago, of the seven Turkish citizens.
According to Chiril Moţpan, during committee hearings, Alexandru Baltaga, former deputy director of the Information and Security Service, said that the expulsion of the Turkish citizens was ordered by Vasile Botnari, SIS director at that time. In turn, Vasile Botnari stated during the same hearing that he takes full responsibility for the committed actions. Chiril Moţpan wonders if "Vasile Botnari didn't know that ignoring legal provisions involves criminal liability". "Was he so irresponsible that he could not foresee the consequences of such a decision? Or was it imposed by certain decision-makers?”.
Chiril Moţpan added that the legislation adopted two years ago regarding combating terrorism stipulates that "the entire activity of preventing and combating terrorism is coordinated by the speaker of the Parliament", which at that time was the Democrat Andrian Candu. The MP believes that the latter, in his capacity as speaker of the Parliament, knew about what was happening. "The operation to expel alleged terrorists could not be carried out without the supervision of the speaker of Parliament, directly responsible for the activity of preventing and combating terrorism", stressed Chiril Moţpan.
Presenting the string of last year's events, Chiril Mopţan said that he has established that Vasile Botnari, former SIS director, and Alexandru Balan, former SIS deputy director, have approved, in the absence of an agreement between SIS and the Migration and Asylum Bureau, the documents concerning the removal procedure under escort of seven foreign nationals, as well as other adjacent documents. Foreign nationals were accompanied on board the aircraft by SIS officers in the absence of an abroad travel order. Chiril Moţpan says that a series of violations were committed during the extradition operation. The notification procedure regarding the removal of the Turkish citizens from Moldova was ignored, thus the Turkish citizens were restricted from exercising their right to defend themselves and challenge the decision. Additionally, they were not allowed to take their identification documents.
According to Chiril Moţpan, the accumulated data on the Turkish citizens revealed a reduced probability of their involvement in actions that might have jeopardized national security. State bodies acted hastily and relevant decisions and actions were executed in short terms, which limited possible legal action on behalf of the Turkish citizens. Additionally, the hastiness implied that SIS and MAI employees were insufficiently aware of the real impact of their actions.
The committee does not have information regarding the possible involvement in this case of the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon. If such information is made available, Chiril Moţpan assurance that he will be the first one to talk about it and that he will ask the president to resign from office.
Chiril Moţpan specifies that the information presented at the conference is the result of his own investigations and will be subject to debate within the committee. At a later date, a report will be drafted and filed to law enforcement bodies.
