The Center for Independent Journalism, together with the undersigned media non-governmental organizations, expresses its solidarity with the team of the Zona de Securitate media outlet and condemns the pressure and acts of intimidation exerted by the mayor of Varnița, Alexandr Nichitenco, in relation to a public information campaign regarding the energy situation in the Transnistrian region.
On May 13, the newsroom installed an informational banner on a billboard managed by a local business as part of the media campaign #EUpeNistru. The displayed message (“When you don’t pay for gas with money – you pay with your future”) was a form of exercising freedom of expression, a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. According to the newsroom, the mayor of Varnița exerted direct pressure on the journalists and on the economic agent managing the advertising space, including through threatening phone calls and issuing an ultimatum demanding the removal of the banner.
Alexandr Nichitenco reportedly cited “interventions” from the self-proclaimed authorities in Tiraspol and resorted to intimidation, including threats to restrict the access of Zona de Securitate journalists to the locality of Varnița. The banner was taken down later that same evening, despite the journalists’ attempts to find a peaceful and legal resolution.
The undersigned NGOs regard these actions as a serious attack on freedom of expression and a blatant attempt to obstruct journalistic activity. Such practices are unacceptable in a rule-of-law state and constitute a flagrant deviation from the principles of democracy and pluralism of opinion.
We draw attention to the fact that journalists on the right bank of the Nistru do not have free access to the Transnistrian region, and the informational activities carried out in localities under the constitutional jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova, such as Varnița, are among the few ways in which the public on the left bank of the Nistru can receive accurate and balanced information.
We express our support for the journalists of Zona de Securitate and for their efforts to report on the realities in the Transnistrian region.
We call on the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova to take note of these reprehensible abuses and to urgently intervene to remedy and prevent such episodes of intimidation and censorship.
Center for Independent Journalism
Association of Electronic Press (APEL)
Association of Independent Press (API)
Access-Info Center
Media-Guard Association
Association of Environmental and Ecological Tourism Journalists
Center for Investigative Journalism
RISE Moldova
