Written declaration No. 623 | Doc. 14254 | 25 January 2017

Moldova: political oppression against civil society and key witnesses

Signatories: Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Raivo AEG, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Mr Khaled ALBAKKAR, Jordan ; Ms Anastasia CHRISTODOULOPOULOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Ioanneta KAVVADIA, Greece, UEL ; Ms Filiz KERESTECİOĞLU DEMİR, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Nellija KLEINBERGA, Latvia, ALDE ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey, UEL ; Mr George LOUCAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Mr Michele NICOLETTI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Jarosław OBREMSKI, Poland, EC ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Hişyar ÖZSOY, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Mechthild RAWERT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Phil WILSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Andrzej WOJTYŁA, Poland, EC ; Ms Kristýna ZELIENKOVÁ, Czech Republic, ALDE ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

One of the priorities of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement is Moldovan authorities’ transparency in the implementation of anticorruption reform and protection of human rights, freedoms and the rule of law to restore the confidence of Moldova’s citizens and international partners.

Unfortunately, since 2014, the government has made attempts to silence the opposition and civil society, whose representatives, such as Ana Ursachi, Eduard Rudenco, Grigore Petrenco have become victims of defamatory campaigns and criminal cases, led by Moldovan prosecutor's offices and media outlets, influenced and politicised by oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. Representatives of StarNet Telecom and its owner Alexandru Machedon, who refused to censor independent media JurnalTV, faced similar reprisals.

Politically motivated trials were initiated against Vyacheslav Platon-Kobalyev, a key witness in the case against Plahotniuc on charges of embezzlement of $1 billion from reserves of the Moldova’s National Bank; or Sergiu Cibotari, an ex-employee of the Post of Moldova and a key witness in a criminal case against Plahotniuc’s allies.

We hereby call on the Moldovan authorities to immediately stop the reprisals, and remind that human rights and democracy situation in Moldova is closely monitored by the Council of Europe.