Written declaration No. 448 | Doc. 12318 | 23 June 2010

The necessity to put an end to the violations of human rights in the secessionist region of Transnistria of the Republic of Moldova

Signatories: Mr Cezar Florin PREDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Viorel Riceard BADEA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Denis BADRÉ, France, ALDE ; Ms Marie-Louise BEMELMANS-VIDEC, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Ms Anne BRASSEUR, Luxembourg, ALDE ; Mr André BUGNON, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Titus CORLĂŢEAN, Romania, SOC ; Mr David DARCHIASHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Ms Josette DURRIEU, France, SOC ; Mr Relu FENECHIU, Romania, ALDE ; Mr Axel E. FISCHER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Hans FRANKEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr György FRUNDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Giorgi GABASHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Mike HANCOCK, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Serhiy HOLOVATY, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Ms Elvira KOVÁCS, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Göran LINDBLAD, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Arminas LYDEKA, Lithuania, ALDE ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Ronan MULLEN, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Mr Pasquale NESSA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Tudor PANŢIRU, Romania, SOC ; Ms Elsa PAPADIMITRIOU, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD ; Ms Maria STAVROSITU, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Paul WILLE, Belgium ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

The situation of human rights in the secessionist region of Transnistria of the Republic of Moldova has significantly worsened in the last months, with the de facto authorities proceeding to random and unlawful arrests, intimidating and threatening the representatives of the civil society and increasing the pressure on the mass-media and journalists. The Transnistrian region tends to become a human rights "black hole" in Europe.

The arrests of Ernest Vardanean, an independent journalist, and Ilie Cazac, a tax officer, of Elena Dubrovitskaya, a 20 years old school graduate and Eugen Stirbu, President of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, are just few examples in this regard.

We, the undersigned urge the Parliamentary Assembly and all member states of the Council of Europe to put pressure on the de facto authorities of the secessionist region of Transnistria to stop human rights violations, harassment and intimidation of representatives of the civil society and independent media, and to release the illegally detained citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

Recalling the Assembly’s Resolution 1572 (2007), we call upon the Monitoring Committee to look into these developments when preparing the next monitoring report on the Republic of Moldova.