Such assessments were made by a number of representatives of Pridnestrovian state bodies during the presentation of the publication of the PMR's MFA, devoted to the problems of politically motivated criminal cases
In particular, Head of the Supreme Council of the PMR Sergei Belous, for several years headed the expert group on the fight against crime from Pridnestrovie, said that contacts of Pridnestrovian and Moldovan experts in this field is more like “the history of losses, rather than development of positive solutions”.
“Despite the Pridnestrovian side’s willingness and openness to organize practical cooperation with Moldovan counterparts, and, moreover, the voluntary fulfillment of the part of agreed commitments, we have not seen similar actions from our partners,” he stressed.
According to him, at some stage, even the provision of immediate information of incidents, criminals wanted by the sides, as well as natural disasters, “which, seemingly, did not cause any objections from the Moldovan delegation”, has been ensured only by Pridnestrovie. “On average, up to 70 persons living in Moldova and wanted by Moldovan law enforcement agencies for crimes were detained in Pridnestrovie every year. These persons were handed over in accordance with the Pridnestrovian legislation to Moldova, despite the fact that the Moldovan side did not detain a single criminal wanted in Pridnestrovie during all this time,” said Sergei Belous.
Speaking about the criminal prosecution against Pridnestrovian citizens for political reasons, Head of the SC of the PMR reminded that “this tool to influence the Pridnestrovian society is used by the Moldovan side virtually since the very first days of the formation of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic”. “The Republic of Moldova has never abandoned this practice, which was used for a long time to a greater extent against representatives of Pridnestrovian law enforcement agencies, from the leadership to the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” he said.
“Tellingly, one of the former leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is charged with the following: “being a so-called Minister of the Interior, he performed administrative functions in the area of law enforcement, thus he usurped power”. Thereby, the Moldovan side regards the very fact that a citizen of the PMR holds the position related to the performance of law enforcement functions as a fact of commission of a criminal offense,” said Sergei Belous.
Continuing the theme First Deputy Chairman of the Investigation Committee of the PMR Vasily Kovach also noted that to date a significant number of politically motivated criminal cases against Pridnestrovians were initiated in Moldova solely because of the performance of their official duties. This fact, according to the representative of IC of the PMR, in the absence of cooperation between law enforcement bodies of the sides even on ordinary crimes has extremely negative potential. “There has been a recent increase in criminal cases brought against certain individuals solely for the performance of specific powers by them in response to complaints from citizens of Moldova, including “criminal elements”, stressed Vasily Kovach.
At the same time, as noted in the course of the event, the representatives of “no force” authorities, but also entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens of Pridnestrovie are prosecuted in Moldova today. Thus, as said by Head of the SC of the PMR Sergei Belous, four deputies from the Supreme Council of the current convocation have been defendants in politically motivated criminal cases opened in Moldova today too. Thereby, according to participants of the briefing, the Moldovan side tries to declare almost any activity carrying out on the territory of Pridnestrovie to be an outlaw.
Member of the Pridnestrovian delegation in the Joint Control Commission, Head of Department for Organisation and Inspection of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of the PMR Konstantin Kalinyonok noted in this regard that such actions of the Moldovan side, which are contrary to the agreements of negotiation process, are aimed at intimidating Pridnestrovian citizens.
“The Moldovan counterparts’ activity is illogical and resembles a chain of contradictions. In the Security Zone there is a temporary provision on the activities of law enforcement agencies, which clearly defines what each of the sides should do, defines the boundaries of authority and jurisdiction. Moreover, each side carries out law enforcement activities on the principle of territoriality. Thus, any reasonable person understands well the Moldovan side’s motives when criminal cases are initiated against Pridnestrovians for the performance of their official duties” he said.
Acting Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev said in his turn that the issue of politically motivated prosecution of Pridnestrovians permeates many areas of bilateral dialogue of Pridnestrovie and Moldova, but the Moldovan side’s approaches in this matter still resembles “some imitation”. The diplomat said that Pridnestrovie expects that the Moldovan side will finally take a realistic position on such a sensitive issue and will show readiness for a substantive dialogue to resolve the problem of politically motivated prosecutions.
