We condemn the behavior of Pepeni village mayor Oleg Cernei toward journalist Carolina Buimestru while she was documenting a news story

The Center for Investigative Journalism and other non-governmental media organizations condemn the inappropriate, deviant, and hostile behavior of the mayor of Pepeni village, Oleg Cernei, in relation to the efforts of the Anticoruptie.md portal team to document journalistic material on problematic issues in the field of culture. We call on the mayor of Pepeni village to behave in a civilized manner towards the press and to publicly apologize to reporter Carolina Buimestru.

Last week, the mayor of Pepeni village, Sângerei district, Oleg Cernei, intimidated journalist Carolina Buimestru, a freelancer for the Anticoruptie.md portal, who is working on a series of journalistic materials on problematic issues in the field of culture. The journalist repeatedly asked the mayor to respond to accusations made by the head of the local cultural center regarding orders signed by the mayor concerning his employment relationship with the center. The mayor ignored the journalist’s online and telephone requests and refused to speak to journalists when they went to the Pepeni town hall, asking them to leave his office and not to film. The mayor used offensive language to intimidate the journalist and prevent her from doing her job.

After the team of journalists left the village, the mayor called journalist Carolina Buimestru, attacking her with offensive words, hurtful labels, and unfounded and derogatory accusations (“rude,” “cowardly,” “hypocritical,” “you came as intruders,” “you have no right to interpret the documents,” etc.). Subsequently, Mayor Oleg Cernei organized a meeting with representatives of the local cultural sector, during which he continued to use offensive labels and unfounded accusations against journalist Carolina Buimestru.

We consider the mayor’s behavior to be abusive, offensive, and deviant, as it aims to force the journalist to abandon the story she is working on, which concerns the mayor’s actions, particularly certain decisions that the State Chancellery has deemed illegal and abusive. This situation represents a clear attempt to intimidate the media and undermine the right to practice journalism in a safe and respectful environment.

We call on the mayor of Pepeni to behave in a civilized manner towards the press and to publicly apologize to reporter Carolina Buimestru, who was harmed by his deviant and hostile speech.

Center for Investigative Journalism

Access-Info Center

Independent Journalism Center

Association of Independent Press

Association of Environmental and EcoTourism Journalists of Moldova

Media-Guard Association