| The accusations against the Russians were unjustified Olga and Elena Romashchenko were accused of illegally staying in Moldova. This was recognized by the Chisinau district court. The Russian sisters had the necessary registration. Lawyers also filed motions to overturn the unlawful prosecution of similar claims against other 22 Russian citizens expelled from Moldova ahead of the March 6 parliamentary elections. Alexey Vasiliev, a representative of the movement “For Human Rights” in the Republic of Moldova, told Vremya Novostey.
Lawyers for Russians expelled from Moldova during the election campaign filed about 60 different complaints to Moldovan courts. In February, experts from the Human Rights Movement were expelled from the country, as were employees of the Moscow advertising firm United Direct Marketing Company, who worked under a contract with a local company. All of them were accused of illegal stay in the Moldovan state and illegal election monitoring.
The director of the Information and Security Service (ISS) of Moldova, Ion Ursu, said that representatives of the second group, detained on February 18 (it also included citizens of Ukraine and Kazakhstan), monitored the movement of President Vladimir Voronin’s motorcades and monitored deputies from the ruling Communist Party. Moldovan authorities found over half a million US dollars in the possession of the twenty-year-old Romashchenko sisters. The girls were arrested and placed in the SIB pre-trial detention center, accusing them first of smuggling and then of money laundering.
As Alexey Vasilyev explained to VN, at first the sisters were also going to be expelled. Now the girls, who were released from custody after the elections on their own recognizance, have a stamp in their passports prohibiting entry into the territory of Moldova for three years. The presence of such a seal in the documents of expelled Russians violates their rights and makes it difficult to pass border control when entering any country.
Lawyers for the Russians believe that the political motivation behind the charges is obvious. The inconsistency of the Moldovan law enforcement agencies, which constantly changed the charges against the Romashchenko sisters contrary to the law, can only be explained by non-legal conflicts. The charge of laundering a large sum of money brought against Olga and Elena, accountants of the advertising firm United Direct Marketing Company, according to the defense, has no judicial prospects. On April 8, in Chisinau, they will consider the appeal of lawyers to terminate the criminal prosecution of Russian women Romashchenko on this point.
When appealing the actions of Moldovan law enforcement agencies, the defense defends the property rights of Russian citizens. During deportation, local law enforcement officers confiscated a suspicious mobile phone or computer from someone, and an “excessive” amount of money from someone. But moral damage has not been forgotten either - lawyers filed a lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity on behalf of the injured Russians against the President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin.
In a pre-election interview with the Vecherniy Kishinev newspaper, the president spoke about the lack of registration among Russians and about their allegedly illegal activities. The plaintiffs demanded that the head of state refute the statements discrediting their honor and dignity and pay them one Moldovan leu (about 4.5 rubles) as compensation for damage. “What is important for us is not money, but restoration of the good name of the Russian state and its citizens, who suffered greatly in the Moldovan election campaign,” Alexey Vasiliev explained to VN. According to him, the judge to whom the lawsuit was filed refused to register the document. I had to send it by mail. Natalia PRIKHODKO, Chisinau |
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