Written declaration No. 588 | Doc. 13703 | 30 January 2015

Prompt release of all political prisoners in the Republic of Moldova is needed

Signatories: Mr George LOUKAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Ms Eka BESELIA, Georgia, SOC ; Mr Tuur ELZINGA, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Annette GROTH, Germany, UEL ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Nazmi GÜR, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Matjaž HANŽEK, Slovenia, UEL ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Soňa MARKOVÁ, Czech Republic, UEL ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Piotr NAIMSKI, Poland, EC ; Mr Luc RECORDON, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Snorre Serigstad VALEN, Norway, UEL ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We, the undersigned members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, are seriously concerned about violations of the civil rights and freedoms we increasingly frequently witness in the Republic of Moldova in the context of the 30 November 2014 parliamentary election.

We believe particularly inadmissible any prosecution of civic activists and oppositionists on political grounds in a democracy. In this regard, we call the Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights, Mr. Nils Muižnieks, to pay serious consideration to the prosecution of two civic activists, anti-fascists, Pavel Grigorciuc and Mihail Amerberg, who are under arrest for three months now on the obviously politically motivated charges. We are also seriously concerned about the destiny of oppositional activists, Nicolae Tipovici and Cornel Moraru, who are held in custody for three months now too. There is reason to believe that the mere fact that all four activists are still held in custody with no ongoing investigative actions and in the conditions of non-transparent judicial proceedings is one of the means to put pressure on parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, and to intimidate oppositionists. And this is categorically unacceptable.

In this context, we resolutely condemn that there are political prisoners in Moldova, a member State of the Council of Europe, and we demand their immediate release. The newly elected Moldovan authorities should take all measures to honour their obligations in human rights undertaken when the Republic of Moldova joined the Council of Europe.