Written question No. 686 to the Committee of Ministers | Doc. 13784 | 05 May 2015
Systematic violations of journalists’ rights by the authorities of the Republic of Moldova
On 18 March 2015, the VGTRK camera crew led by Alexander Balitsky was heading for the Republic of Moldova to cover the elections in Gagauzia. The border guards of Moldova did not allow the Russian crew to enter the country alleging that it could not confirm the purpose of its visit.
On 9 April 2015, the camera crew of Zvezda channel led by Alexey Golovko was detained at the airport of Kishinev, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, and was expelled from the country. The pretext for denied entry was the absence of documents clarifying the purpose of the visit.
On 19 April 2015, the camera crew of TVC channel arrived in Kishinev. After a TVC employee’s ID was found during the body search of cameraman Gennady Kuznetsov, he was denied entry. After five hours of interrogation a similar decision was made with regard to correspondent Artyom Shirokov. Formally the decision was motivated by a lack of information about the purpose of their visit and about a place of stay in the country.
Mr Pushkov,
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
Regarding these actions as impeding journalists’ activities, will the Committee of Ministers evaluate the correspondence of the actions by the authorities of the Republic of Moldova with the principles of freedom of the media, as well as their inadmissible practice of abusing the existing rules and regulations stipulating the procedure of entering the country?