Rest in peace VALERIU BOBOC...

Rest in peace VALERIU BOBOC...

Yesterday, April 12, the first casualty of the brutal police beatings was buried. Nobody knew about this case earlier because the body was not handed to the relatives immediately after the young man's death.
The arrests go on in Moldova. The beatings go on. Already hundreds of people are under arrest (some have been released). Journalists become victims of police as well. Sometimes they are only threatened (journalists from “ZdG”) or kidnapped and interrogated (like Rodica Mahu: co-editor of jurnal.md). (See also the previous post about Oleg Brega.)

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Rest in peace VALERIU BOBOC...

“His name was VALERIU BOBOC. He was 23 years old. He was a supporter of the Liberal Party (LP). His parents think that he was murdered with cruelty while in arrest. On the other hand, the General Prosecutor Office has announced the following in a press release:

„Regarding the multiple rumors related to the death of the citizen Valeriu Boboc, the Press Service of the Prosecutor Office is in right to inform the following. On April 8, at 1.15 am, V. Boboc died on his way to the Emergency Hospital. According to the results of the autopsy, the body injuries and the broken rib have no causative connection with the cause of death. According to the doctors, he was subject to intoxication with an unknown substance. In order to exclude any doubts related to the cause of death, the prosecutors are ready to call an international expertise.” ( not because of the beating, and unattended broken rib, mind you, but because of an intoxication with an unknown gas. It seems even more so like the establishment of a holocaust. my note).

Meanwhile, the General Prosecutor Office has formed a special group of prosecutors with the task to verify and examine all requests and complaints filed by citizens regarding the alleged actions of abuses, torture etc., committed by police.
With regard to the persons detained or arrested within the actions of mass disorders, the Prosecutor Office informs that according to procedural criminal laws, all persons are granted legal assistance and the hearings of minors are carried out in the presence of parents or professors.
The prosecutors constantly verify the detention rooms in order to exclude abuses from law enforcement. In this context, the Public Relations sections as well as other subdivisions of the Prosecutor Office are ready to receive and examine all complaints related to alleged bad treatments.”

source: www.garda.com.md

a video from the funeral:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7pRo4hqzzQ


In the meantime, there are reports that there is a new kind of product on the Moldovan market - “beaten young man”. The price that the parents or the relatives have to pay to the people who beat their sons (to Police officers) for one beaten person varies from 2000 to 3000 Moldovan lei (200-250 US dollars.) The relatives are told to keep quiet about these transactions, as usually is the practice when it comes to human trade.
These sums could, perhaps, be even motivated legally, as a fine that the guilty party has to pay for disturbing the (communist) order.
The people are terrorized, they don't know whom to ask for help.

It has been reported that journalists from the European Union were not allowed to enter Moldova.

Update on Anatol Mătăsaru's case:
On Sunday, Anatol Mătăsaru's wife, a former journalist, Julieta Saviţschi, managed to pass over to him in detention a package with some food. She also wanted to send in some creams for bruises, as well as some vitamins. Police said, Anatol refused the vitamins and the creams.
According to Julieta, her husband is being badly mistreated. Among others, he is told by his guards - To lick their boots in order to stay alive. - Since the police seems to be very serious about its threats (see the case of Valeriu Boboc) Julia Saviţschi is being particularly worried about her husband's well-being. She actually declared to couple of press-agencies that she is afraid, she might not see him alive again.

According to Julieta Saviţschi, A. Mătăsaru is currently being investigated under the article 285 (on mass disorders). Chapter 4 of R.Moldova's criminal code:
Article 285. Mass disorder
(4) Calls to active insubordination to the legitimate requests of the representatives of the authorities and to mass disorders, as well as the calls to commit violent acts against the citizens,
Shall be punished by a fine in the amount of 200 to 500 conventional units or by jail term of up to 3 years.
Source of the English translation of the Criminal Code:
http://www.legislationline.org/download/action/download/id/1687/file/0e3bf0290e9b404cb57debe4ebc4.htm/preview
(One conventional unit is approx. 20 Moldovan Lei, or 1.3 Euro. My addition)

As I mentioned earlier, Anatol was already, temporarily sentenced, on Friday last week, with a 30 days' detention period. Anatol, one of the few of the hundreds of detained people, had the privilege of being judged in the presence of his lawyer. His lawyer contested the decision of the court. Importantly, the judge did report to the prosecutors' office that Anatol was physically abused.
Although the evidence remains unclear, his wife said that Anatol was also charged with stealing some computers.

It seems that the evidence for Anatol case comes mainly from videos shown on the state TV – Moldova-1 (TRM),
see an excerpt here:
http://www.trm.md/index.php?module=stiri_int&news_id=7777

Unlike the video streams broadcast on the Internet by independent TV stations that assume a critical attitude towards the Communist Government, the pro-communist TRM's live stream has an amazing speed of transfer!!! Check for comparison the speed of www.jurnaltv.md or www.protv.md – 2 independent TV stations.

On this particular video Anatol is seen collecting stones during the riot following the elections and throwing them in the already broken windows of the Presidential Palace, most interestingly, in a quite an “art-brute” way - he is filmed while he is hitting with a stone the objective of a TRM camera that is filming him. While hitting the objective, he uttered a series of expletives. This fragment (uncensored) was shown on multiple occasions on TRM. In this particular feature report presented here (length just above 1 minute) the fragment with “breaking the objective” is shown three times - plain negative image-making.
Apparently, there was a whole army of cameramen from TRM filming him from various angles during the protests. He is a star after all. He is the first one, to my knowledge, to be ever shown on the national TRM using expletives, not mentioning – the attack on the company's video-camera.
This video report on TRM is about a press conference of Chisinau's mayor and vice president of LP, Dorin Chirtoacă, at which the mayor condemned the recent acts of Anatol Mătăsaru.

Yet, again, the opinions of Moldova's artists and art critics about Anatol Mătăsaru diverge greatly. Even among the critics who consider themselves in opposition to the actual Communist government. Some believe that Mătăsaru is a great scamp and he deserves what he got, others say, that one cannot judge an artist according to his “scampness.”

More updates will follow...