The Chisinau Appeals Court rejected the request to set free ex-MPs Artur Reshetnicov, Sergiu Sîrbu and Vladimir Vitiuc, who were arrested in the case of the 13 turncoat MPs. They are investigated for unjust enrichment. The three ex-MPs will be further held in the remand prison of the National Anticorruption Center, IPN reports.
Earlier, the Chisinau Appeals Court decided that former MP Violeta Ivanov will stay under house arrest for a 20-day period after the first court ordered remand detention for her.
In the courtroom, Artur Reshetnicov told the journalists that he gave up the hunger strike he announced on the day of his arrest. He said he was deprived of medical assistance and of the right to contact lawyers. He was allowed to call lawyers only yesterday. He was subject to pressure and this thing was confirmed by his wife, who was present at the hearing. Reshetnicov said he does not have what to hide and he is actually punished for the decisions he took as a judge of the Constitutional Court and for the fact that he left the Party of Communists owing to political dissentions. He is persecuted politically with the aim of distracting attention from serious social problems, such as the rise in prices.
Ex-MPs Violeta Ivanov, Vladimir Vitiuc, Sergiu Sîrbu, Anatolie Zagorodnyi and Artur Reshetnicov were arrested on February 2. They are suspected of unjust enrichment following the taking of bribe for defecting from their parliamentary group to another.
