Moldovan Helsinki group suspended from int'l federation for fraud

Self-styled "Helsinki" human rights defender Ştefan Urîtu has been accused of cooking the books; defrauding donors of €500,000

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, an umbrella organization for 38 European human rights organizations, has cut ties with its Moldovan member.

Effective immediately, the group has suspended the membership of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova (Comitetul Helsinki pentru Drepturile Omului), also known as the Moldovan Helsinki Committee, an organization founded and led by self-styled human rights defender Ştefan Urîtu.

The blacklisting of the Moldovans follow investigations into fraud and professional misrepresentation in the wake of both financial irregularities and reports about the human rights situation in neighboring Transdniestria which show a disconnect between any actual events in the region.

Former insiders from the group revealed in letters which were reported in the Moldovan press that American and European grants went to pay for expenditures which never took place, and which were merely fictional bookkeeping entries created by Urîtu from thin air.

Fraud and embezzlement of donor money

A major donor, the Swedish Helsinki Committee, was the first to cut its ties to its Moldovan counterpart after finding evidence of financial irregularities. Through donations surpassing 500,000 euros, Sweden had financed their Moldovan counterparts before it was stated that the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova "defrauded donors by inflating expenditures."

Robert Hardh, Secretary General of Swedish Helsinki Committee, personally went to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, to get an explanation from Stefan Uritu. During the stay in Chisinau, Urîtu attempted to deliver an envelope full of cash to Robert Hardh. None of the sides deny the attempt by Urîtu to get Hardh to accept the cash-filled envelope, and only dispute the reasons for why Uritu tried to give it to Hardh.

" - I admit the fact that there was a misunderstanding," says Stefan Urîtu, who calls his envelope-pushing a "gesture" and an attempt "to support him at a time when it looked like he was in a more difficult financial situation than I was."

Without mincing words, the Swedes ended their relationship with Uritu's Moldovan Helsinki group. In the wake of the scandal, a total of ten influential non-governmental organizations from Moldova publicly declared that they, too, were suspending their cooperation with the Moldovan Helsinki Committee. And in Vienna, Austria, the international secretariat of the Helsinki Federation also announced that it would no longer keep its Moldova chapter as a current, valid member.

OLAF - an audit structure within the European Commission - was tipped off about fraud at the Moldovan Helsinki Committee and initiated an independent audit of financial irregularities within the group. An estimated half million euro in donor money is said to have been siphoned off through a combination of overbilling, corruption-kickbacks and embezzlements.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova has been suspended from participation in the international Helsinki federation of human rights groups, as this screenshot from its international member directory shows.

Following the fraud revelations, human rights NGO CReDO and the European Commission withheld more than 15,000 euros in funds from the Moldovan Helsinki group, according to a report signed by Ştefan Urîtu.

Unreliable reports

Apart from the long list of financial sheenanigans, Stefan Urîtu and his selfmade Helsinki group has also come under criticism for a lack of adherence to professional standards in a series of human rights reports which were later found to be without any factual merit. Most of the fictitious reports involved claims against the Transdniester authorities for abuses which, contrary to the reporting by the Moldovan Helsinki group, actually never took place.

Despite not having an office or any permanent representatives in Transdniestria (or Transnistria, as the group refers to the unrecognized country), the Moldovan Helsinki group frequently issued reports complaining of alleged human rights abuses by the Transdniestrian authorities.

In one report, the group claimed to have acted as election observers covering the September 2006 independence referendum. It wrote that voters were herded to polling stations and forced to vote at gunpoint. However, election authorities had no record of the group having ever registered as observers, and no credentials had ever been requested by any of the group's members. The group's statements were also at odds with what registered election observers from several European Union countries saw. Nor were these supposed incidents reported by any of the more than 130 accredited journalists who covered the vote for some of the largest news organizations in the world.

" - They weren't there," said a journalist who covered the referendum extensively for a German media organization. "Stefan Uritu's group just makes things up. They have a hyper-active imagination."

"Full of shit" — Victim

Another example of fictitious human rights accusations took place in March, 2007. On 12 March 2007, media outlets were given a press release in which the Moldovan Helsinki group expressed outrage over the treatment that Communist Party protesters had received during a 72-hour administrative detention by Tiraspol police for violating a city ordinance.

To the Western press, Urîtu claimed - without quoting any sources - that the Transdniestrian Communists had been victims of "application of electroshock in order to oblige them to self-incrimination".
The only problem: No such event ever took place.
Immediately upon release, the supposed victims denied ever having met anyone from the Moldovan Helsinki group and stated categorically that they were well treated, with no torture or electroshock treatment of any kind.

" - He is a sick liar," one of the released detainees, Oleg Khorzhan, told news agency Lenta PMR when asked about Ştefan Urîtu claims.

" - The content of his statements doesn't have anything to do with this case, and are not in any way connected with me. I deny the statements by Urîtu that any electric shocks were applied to me. The attitude on the part of the local law enforcement was quite normal," said Khorzhan.

The Moldovan Helsinki group's unsourced and unproven allegations were reported by the government-run Voice of America and by OSCE- and US-funded news portals. Despite the complete denials of the alleged victims in the case, no retractions were later printed.
The Moldovan Helsinki group refused to issue a clarification and did not respond when pressed for comment by The Tiraspol Times.

See also:
» Released opposition leader: "The Moldova Helsinki Committee is full of sh*t"
» Moldova among most corrupt nations, says watchdog