Eurasia Press & News
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has called for an amnesty for people detained after violent protests in which his ruling Communists were accused of election fraud.
He was speaking after several international bodies alleged authorities were mistreating some of the 200 demonstrators held after last week’s protests against the victory by Voronin’s Communists in a parliamentary election on April 5.
Election officials were recounting the vote after Voronin said such as step could re-establish trust in the former Soviet republic, now Europe’s poorest country, wedged between Ukraine and Romania. But opposition parties said it would lead nowhere.
“I call on the competent bodies to carry out a general amnesty and call for an end to all forms of prosecution against participants in street protests,” Voronin said in comments broadcast ahead of an televised address to the nation.
“Representatives of the criminal world and repeat offenders must remain in prison,” he added.
A confidential report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe obtained by the Reuters news agency said it had “verified some claims” of mistreatment and was seeking access to jails and an audience with the chief prosecutor to follow up allegations.
Europe’s top human rights watchdog said international non-governmental organisations and journalists had reported ill-treatment of detainees, inhumane detention conditions, torture, a clampdown on media coverage and improper expulsion of foreign journalists.
At least one protester has died, authorities say of smoke inhalation while his family says he was beaten.
Officials began recounting more than 1.5 million ballots in the election in which the Communist Party finished far in front.
The liberal, pro-Western opposition, whom Voronin accused of plotting a coup with the protests, boycotted the recount and want a new election, saying voters’ lists were fraudulent.
Officials took ballots to more than 2,000 polling stations to be counted in a single day. The ballots will be handed to the Central Election Commission on Thursday and then to the Constitutional Court, which is to issue a ruling by April 21.
Results gave the communists 49.48 per cent of the vote and 60 seats, one short of the number needed to ensure victory for their candidate when parliament chooses a new president.
Three opposition parties, broadly pro-Romanian in outlook, scored a combined total of 35.34 per cent and won 41 seats.
Voronin says the protests, in which young demonstrators ransacked the president’s office and parliament, were part of a plot to seize power and were fomented by Romania, which shares a cultural and linguistic heritage with Moldova.
Romania denies the charges. President Traian Basescu accused Moldova on Tuesday of violating human rights after the unrest.
Voronin, Europe’s only Communist leader, has long called for further integration with the West while preserving Moldova’s longstanding ties with Russia. In power since 2001, he cannot run for a third term, but wants to keep a decision-making role.
