Freedom of press still questionable in Transnistria after leadership change
Chisinau/ Moldova.ORG/ -- Grigori Volovoi, a journalist at the independent TV station Dnestr TV from Tiraspol had been humiliated while trying to work on a story about the change of administration of the so-called Ministry of Security from Tiraspol.
The journalist says that the struggles with the independent press and with the opposition were on the daily agenda of Mr. Vladimir Antyufeyev, the former Minister of Security in Transnistria and a KGB officer during the Soviet times. He is also known under the assumed name Vladimir Shevtsov and wanted by the law enforcement agencies of Latvia and Moldova. The Latvian government accused Antyufeyev of "crimes against the state" in August 1991. Antyufeyev, a Russian citizen, came to Tiraspol to take part in the Transnistrian independence movement in September 1991 and played a key role in forming the internal affairs and security organizations of the Transnistrian government.
“During every event where the NGOs were involved, the presence of the security forces of Transnistria was mandatory. The Ministry of Security has spread on the whole system, having a full control on everything,” says Mr. Volovoi in his report.
During the videotape of the reportage, an officer of the “Ministry” approached the journalist and obliged him to turn off his camera. He asked the journalist and the cameraman to legitimize and told them to follow him inside the building. Watch the incident in the video footage below (in Russian).
“The administration has changed but the things from inside don’t appear. We want to pretend that the new leader of the Ministry, Valeri Iunevici, will make a change,” explains Grigori Volovoi.
Vladimir Antiufeev was the former leader of the Ministry of Security in the Transnistrian region from 1992 until this year. He was removed from his chair by the new president of Transnistria, Evgheny Shevchuk.
Grigori Volovoi is the chief-editor at the independent newspaper from this region. Between 1990 and 1994 he was a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
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