Comment of the Bureau for Reintegration Policies following new signals on the increase of human rights violations in the Transnistrian region
Although the topic of human rights is constantly present on the agenda of negotiations for the Transnistrian settlement, the situation in this field remains complicated and worrying on the left bank of the Nistru River and municipality of Bender.
Signals confirming stronger actions of persecution against citizens whose opinions do not coincide with the position of the leaders from Tiraspol are increasingly frequent.
Freedom of expression has been violated even more outrageously since March 2020, when Tiraspol approved an alleged strategy to combat the so-called „extremism”, and as a result initiated the imprisonment of citizens for simply expressing their own opinion on the processes taking place in the region. In the territory not controlled by the authorities, citizens who express their own views regarding the outbreak of the war in Ukraine or the presence of foreign troops and civic activists who report human rights abuses committed by exponents of non-constitutional structures are also repressed.
Illegally detained by decisions of so-called „courts” not established by law, these persons are subjected to disastrous conditions, inhuman and degrading treatment, endangering their health and life.
The Bureau for Reintegration Policies condemns grave human rights violations by the exponents of Tiraspol.
The unconditional release of unjustly imprisoned citizens has been requested through the communication channel of the political representatives in the Transnistrian settlement process.
Foreign partners were made aware of the situation in order to intervene in the reported individual cases using all available tools.
Law enforcement institutions have been notified to carry out investigations in accordance with national law.
The dialogue with civil society and other relevant actors on the human rights monitoring component in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova will be maintained.
