Moldova

Moldova: Liberal Democrats going to sue filmmakers in court

June 17, 2009

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The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) is preparing to start an action against the producers of the film called ‘Attack on Moldova’ that was telecast on the NIT channel on 7 June.

The film presented the 6-7 April events in Chisinau the way the country's Communist authorities view them.

PLDM parliamentarian, prominent Moldovan lawyer Vitalie Nagacevschi stated to the press the party may well decide to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because the Moldovan opposition's presumption of innocence had been grossly infringed on. He explained that in the film, Prosecutor General Valeriu Ghurbulea, Director of the Information and Security Service (ISS) Artur Reshetnikov and President Vladimir Voronin threw very hard accusations to the opposition without bothering to provide whatever proofs.

‘The Government of Moldova has lost so many cases in the ECHR, which showed that by making such unfounded statements our Prosecutor General violated presumption of innocence. We cannot say yet if the European Court starts one more such litigation against Moldova, but if yes the case will involve not only Prosecutor General Ghurbulea but also the ISS leadership and even the president of the republic’, the lawyer said.

PLDM First Deputy Chairman, lawyer Alexandru Tanase said the film ‘Attack on Moldova’ is strongly biased, is a manipulation film that shows no respect for either journalist ethics or the legislation in force’. He voiced indignation that many essential moments of the April events were not reflected in the film, for instance the presence of the police on site during the hoisting of the EU and Romanian flags over the Parliament Building and the presidential palace; the statement by First Deputy Chairman of Parliament Vladimir Turcan that he had discussed the flag hoisting prior to that procedure; the statements by Communist leaders that they had been in indirect relations with the construction companies that had won the contest for the right to repair the said two buildings.

‘In normal conditions, the Communists should have asked the opposition's opinion before putting forward such grave accusations against the opposition’, he said.

PLDM leader Vlad Filat stated the film shall remain forever on the conscience of those who ordered and who made the picture, ‘and who will be necessarily punished sooner or later’. ‘All the accusations against us are based on nothing. If you can remember, shortly before the 5 April elections, three criminal actions were started against me. And where are these cases now? Why is nobody mentioning them? The same fate is awaiting the new accusations in this film’, said Filat.

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