SEEMO IPI Moldova protest

[anna balint]

SEEMO IPI MOLDOVA PROTEST - 19 MARCH 2002



His Excellency Vladimir Voronin President
Office of the President
Bd Stefan cel Mare 154
Chisinau
Republic of Moldova
Fax: + 373  22 45 089





Vienna, 19 March 2002



Your Excellency,



The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors,
media executives and
leading journalists, and its affiliate, the South East European Media
Organisation (SEEMO),
are concerned by the recent intimidation of the Committee for Press
Solidarity, comprised
of up to 500 protesting Moldavian journalists and media workers of the
state-owned
company TeleRadio-Moldova.



Since late February, employees of TeleRadio-Moldova have protested media
censorship
and demanded greater press freedom. The journalists, along with civil
society
organisations and opposition parties, claim that the TeleRadio-Moldova
supports the ruling
Communist Party of Moldova (PCM). A claim founded on the belief that,
since early
January, the station has deliberately censored reports on
anti-government protests held in
the countrys capital, Chisinau.



Although the government has formed a special investigative commission to
look into the affair,
journalists are fearful that the commission, which is largely composed
of individuals loyal to the
government, will be biased. In addition, despite a meeting between Your
Excellency and the
Committees representatives to, in your own words, improve the
situation, you have allegedly
accused the journalists of being a gang paid to organise protest
actions by foreign forces. IPI is
therefore is concerned that the government lacks the desire to resolve
the issue.



Aside from the governments failure to deal comprehensively with the
demands of the
journalists, there have been apparent attempts by the managers of
TeleRadio-Moldova to
silence journalists who have shown solidarity with the protestors. In
mid-March, news
anchors, editors and producers of the TV news department of the
TeleRadio-Moldova were
dismissed by the companys management. Among these were Dinu Rusnac,
anchor of the
Russian-language newscast, who had aired the protest declarations of his
colleagues, and
Larisa Manole, who was dismissed under the pretext of having committed a
technical
error. IPI would respectfully ask that you reinstate all of the
journalists forthwith.



IPI and SEEMO request that you do everything in your power to ensure
that the media
workers at TeleRadio-Moldova are allowed to report freely and that the
government
undertakes to do everything necessary to guarantee freedom of expression
in Moldova.
Furthermore, we would like to remind you that Moldova is a signatory to
the European
Convention on Human Rights and is bound by article 10 which upholds the
fundamental
principle of freedom of expression.



We thank you for your attention.



Yours sincerely,



Johann P. Fritz                                      Oliver Vujovic

IPI Director                                        SEEMO Secretary
General