The family of a 38-year-old man killed late last month in an armed attack in Vulcănești village, Nisporeni district, is demanding that the investigation be elevated to the level of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), and that a repeat necropsy be conducted, on fears that the local law enforcement may have been bribed to get the suspects off.
During a press conference, the activist Fiodor Ghelici and Olga Stoica, the widow, told their version of events of the night when Serghei died. The family was taking some stuff from the car parked just outside their house, when five men in two cars arrived. The gang attacked the man, as the woman courageously tried to fight back. Then Olga heard gunshots and saw her husband downed. Three assaulters fled immediately, while two others paused for a moment before firing one more gunshot at the woman and disappearing too. Serghei was rushed to a hospital, only to be pronounced dead.
According to the widow, the next day she was quizzed by a local prosecutor, who accused her of lying about being shot at and told the woman to get out of his office. The five suspects were apprehended shortly, but now only one remains in custody. The woman says the suspects have been bragging around the village that the father of one of them gave the police and prosecutors a 75,000 euros bribe.
Fiodor Ghelici said the suspects have a reputation in the community of being “bad guys” and of habitually discharging their guns just for fun. In fact, says Ghelici, this appears to be the motive of Serghei’s killing: the man had tried in the past to talk some sense into their heads. “This is why they murdered him in front of his family and his minor daughter, because he had tried to make those shootings stop”.
Ghelici said that the community is so angry that its members are thinking about vigilante justice. As for Olga, she is determined not to bury her husband’s body until a repeat postmortem is ordered and the results are handed to her in person.
Last Friday, Olga and a crowd of Vulcănești gathered outside the PGO building in Chisinau to demand an unbiased investigation. PGO representatives assured the widow that all the suspects will be arrested within 24 hours. Today Olga says this hasn’t been done.
