Interior Ministry dismisses allegations about police aggressing protesting Liberals

Offcials from the Interior Ministry dismiss the allegations that some policemen would have intimidated and aggressed members of the Liberal Party as they were running a caravan-type protest against the Russian army. Police officers say the altercations between the police and the protesters happened because the latter broke the law, Info-Prim Neo reports. Deputy Interior Minister Valentin Zubic told a news conference Friday that the Liberal Party (PL) members did not obey the legislation while protesting, breeching the traffic rules. “At the protests in Orhei, the organizers did not obey the decision in terms of the place of the action, hampering the road traffic. At the protests in front of the Russian Embassy, the PL members did not observe the 20-meter limit from the embassy's quarters,” says the deputy minister. According to him, during the altercations, it was the policemen who suffered, as they were insulted and badly treated by the protesters. On October 5, the PL staged protests in Chisinau, Balti and all districts, demanding for the withdrawal of the Russian Army from Moldova, as incidents occurred in Chisinau and Balti. “The police are also innocent in the case of the Pro TV Chisinau cameraman, Mihai Sambra.” According to Valentin Zubic, all the cameraman said does not correspond to the truth. “Mihai Sambra was arrested because of other reasons, and he was arrested in other district of Chisinau, in other circumstances and with other people, and the municipal police is dealing with the case and can prove Sambra did not state the truth,” Zubic specifies. According to Pro TV, one of its cameramen was beastly beaten on October 8 in the quarters of the Buiucani district police. Mihai Sambra was arrested by a patrol on the street and taken to the commissariat, where he was allegedly maltreated by four police. Mihai Sambra, who was set free the other day, says the police did not write any minutes and gave him no explanation. A forensic doctor finds the cameraman suffered brain concussion and his nose is broken.