Today on the initiative of the Pridnestrovian side the Bendery OSCE office hosted a working meeting of experts of Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova on the termination of criminal cases.
Following the outcome of the previous meeting of 17 May 2016 in Bendery and pursuant to the item 5 of the Protocol on the results of the Berlin meeting of “Permanent Conference...” on 2-3 June this year, the Pridnestrovian side presented an updated list of Pridnestrovian officials, which according to the available information are defendants in criminal cases in the Republic of Moldova. The Moldovan side refused to provide a similar updated list of RM’s officials, referring to no such cases opened by law enforcement authorities of Pridnestrovie.
It was also expected that, as part of today’s meeting, the Moldovan side would provide the necessary information on the list of Pridnestrovian officials passed to the Republic of Moldova on 24 April, 2015. Such information would allow to start studying concrete episodes of criminal cases for further search for solutions on them.
However, during the meeting representatives of the Republic of Moldova demonstrated the unwillingness to work under the previously agreed format, providing only information on the number of criminal cases initiated by law enforcement structures of the Republic of Moldova against representatives of Pridnestrovie. Potential persons involved in criminal cases, according to the Moldovan experts, may themselves apply to the law enforcement structures of the Republic of Moldova to obtain any information.
In addition, the Moldovan side made an attempt to divert the dialogue into the discussion of issues not related to the agreements outlined in item 5 of the Protocol on the results of the Berlin meeting in the 5+2 format.
The Pridnestrovian side considers such a position of representatives of the Republic of Moldova as the deliberate sabotage of the substantive work in the framework of previous agreements, first of all, the Protocol of the “Permanent Conference...” meeting on 2-3 June 2016. In this context, a reasonable concern is caused by the fact that the position demonstrated by the Moldovan side in fact casts doubt on the effectiveness of work to resolve issues of criminal cases.
During the discussion the sides exchanged their vision and practical proposals on the prospects for restoring the cooperation between law enforcement authorities of Pridnestrovie and the Republic of Moldova interrupted earlier by the Moldovan side.
