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Robert Ménard, director of Reporters Without Borders, whose group has harsh words for Moldova's crackdowm on free expression

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - As Moldova prepares to celebrate its 16th Independence Day on 27 August, NGO Reporters Without Borders points out that this year has been marked by many violations of journalists’ rights and a parliamentary resolution on press freedom proposed by the opposition last month was unfortunately rejected.

" - We condemn the Moldovan ruling party’s recent rejection of the possibility of making concrete improvements to the press freedom situation in the country and we remind the authorities that they must respect the undertakings they have given the European Union in this area," the international organization said in a press release sent to The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, a publication which covers Moldova but from a territory that is not controlled by Moldovan censorship laws or any other legislation.

Early last month, a small group of just 15 opposition legislators submitted a draft bill on press freedom to Moldova's parliament. On 6 July, the resolution was promptly rejected by a parliamentary majority loyal to the country's ruling regime.

One of the resolution’s authors, Oleg Serebrian, said press freedom had been obstructed by harassment, threats and attacks on journalists ever since the Communist Party was returned to power in 2001.

According to both Serebrian and published evidence, judicial prosecutions by the government against news media critical of the government posed the biggest threat to free expression in Moldova. He also accused the regime of breaking its own laws and of harassing news media. At the same time, the ruling regime provides financial subsidies to newspapers that support its policies.

However, Communist Party legislator Victor Stepianuc defended the right of his government to silence critics. Stepianuc, who is the head of Moldova's parliamentary commission for mass media, said that some privately-owned media were biased and that they therefore "did not deserve to have access to parliamentary sessions" or even to the government.

Media watchdogs arrested

During local elections in June 2007, media watchdogs from the the Council for the Coordination of Broadcasting (CCA), a regulatory body, had their work obstructed and were silenced by the government in a clear attempt at intimidation.

Four of its members were detained and two of them were taken into custody and prosecuted. They told Reporters Without Borders that their arrest was probably prompted by the CCA’s warnings about biased election coverage in certain media connected to the ruling elite in Moldova.

More than half of all Moldovans believe that the authorities committed fraud in the election, and election observers from the U.S. Embassy refused to call the elections "free and fair". Anyone reporting on election fraud faced arrests, and as a result the media was largely silent in the face of blatant abuses and vote rigging by the government. A local television station, Euro TV-Chisinau, reported on cases of electoral fraud and promptly received a warning from the police.

The French NGO Reporters Without Borders is dedicated to the defense of press freedom but its history has not been without controversy. To some people, it is an efficient vector for freedom in the world, but to others it has evolved into a transmission cable for the U.S. State Department, and - having received American financing - is used as pressure group for United States’ policy changes in other countries.

Strong improvements in press freedom in neighboring Transdniestria have gone unnoticed by the organization, but other commentators point out that freedom of expression is not nearly as restricted in Transdniestria as it is in Moldova.

A recent British Embassy conference called Transdniestria's press "independent" and "relatively free". In analyzing the facts, the conference report quoted "the presence of certain courage, professionalism and adherence to [journalistic] principles" and concluded that the press does not blindly transmit the government's viewpoint. It found that the media is independent and acts relatively free in relation to the government. The roundtable discussion recognized that dedication to professionalism and principle ensures that the media does not blindly repeat the message that the government wants to broadcast.

In another study supported and published earlier this year by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, it was was that a vibrant, active civil society exists in Transdniestria in a new climate of political freedom.

Transdniestria declared independence in 1990, one year before the founding of the Republic of Moldova. It functions as a separate country with its own laws and government system. It is also known under names such as Transnistria, Trans-Dniester and Transdnestr. Its constitutional name is the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, abbreviated PMR and usually shortened to just Pridnestrovie in the official form.

See also:
» Press freedom 2007: Down in Moldova and Ukraine, up in Transdniester [1]
» British Embassy conference calls PMR press "independent" and "relatively free" [2]
» OSCE-supported study points to vibrant, active civil society [3]

On the web:
» Censorship in Moldova: Pridnestrovie's media banned [4]