Tiraspol obstructs access to arrested policemen

The authorities form Tiraspol refused all the attempts of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova (HCHRM) to obtain access to those two policemen arrested on June 14 by the Transnistrian separatists. The experts of the committee tried to establish the legality of the arrest, the detention conditions, the health conditions and if the rights of the policemen guaranteed by the national and international documents are respected. The representatives of HCHRM declared about this on Wednesday, June 21 at a press conference. According to the lawyer of the police officer Stefan Mangar, on June 19, 2006, the authorities from Tiraspol refused the access of the Committee’s doctors and experts, justifying that the official visit request was written in Romanian. Later the requests written in Russian were also rejected. According to the same sources not a single document submitted to the authorities of the self-proclaimed Nistrean republic were taken into consideration, and the access in the law court of Tiraspol were the court had to decide on the issue of prolonging the arrest mandate for the policemen was blocked, without any explanations, by 3 officers of the so-called minister of national security. The expert doctor of HCHRM, Mihail Melnic declared that the requests to examine the arrested policemen, addressed to several bodies from Tiraspol were rejected. “By these actions, the authorities of the Transnistrian region prove that the life of those two policemen is in danger”, Melnic ended. In a 10 minutes discussion of Stefan Mangar’s with the lawyer, the policeman communicated that he is tortured and is not allowed to sleep. The policemen also said that he was forced to sign a document through which he refuses the help of the legal defender, procedure stipulated by the legislation of Transnistria. According to the lawyer, on Mangar’s hands signs of syringes can be observed. As well, the wife of the second policeman, Constantin Condrea, who spoke with her husband for several minutes, declared that her husband is also inhumanly treated. The representatives of HCHRM state that the scenario of the kidnapping, as well as other events of this kind reveals the involvement of the Russian intelligence services. On Wednesday, June 14, five policemen were kidnapped by the intelligence services of the self-proclaimed Nistrean Republic, 3 of them being set free on Thursday, June 17. The official news agency Olvia-Press informs that the Court from Tiraspol will prolong the arrest mandate for those two policemen for other 30 days more.