The Communist Party is requesting an extraordinary meeting for the Parliament to discuss the involvement of politics in media affairs, IPN reports. At a news conference today, MP Grigore Petrenco said the recent developments have affected Moldova's reputation and called on the law enforcement to investigate and sanction the politicians allegedly involved in putting pressure on the media.
Grigore Petrenco said the Communist Party possesses information that the vice president of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc had his aides pressure TV cable providers into closing the tap on three “inconvenient” channels, RTR Moldova, Jurnal TV and Accent TV. Petrenco announced that the Communists will request the Prosecutor General's Office to open proceedings against Plahotniuc on charges of undue exercise of power, censorship and assault against the media.
Earlier this month, the channels Accent TV and RTR Moldova were removed from standard packages by a number of cable companies. On Monday, Jurnal TV announced it was also excluded without notice. This sparked protests outside the building of the regulatory body, as well as condemning statements from media NGOs, international organizations, embassies and political parties.
On Tuesday evening, Marian Pocaznoi, the chairman of the broadcasting regulatory body, announced that the three channels would be back on cable starting Wednesday morning after their managers succeeded in coming to terms with the cable service providers.
