We condemn the latest abuses committed by the separatist authorities in Tiraspol against journalists from the publication Glossa and call on the constitutional authorities to intervene

The Independent Journalism Center, together with the co-signing non-governmental media organizations, condemns the latest abusive and illegal actions by the separatist authorities in Tiraspol against media representatives and deems the ban on access to the Transnistrian region for journalists from the Glossa media project to be unacceptable. We call on the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova to take effective measures to protect media representatives and guarantee the free exercise of journalistic activity in the Transnistrian region.

According to information released by the Glossa editorial team, Editor-in-Chief Natalia Melnic and videographer Maria Terlețkaia were barred from entering the Transnistrian region for a period of three years. The decision was handed to them as they were leaving the region, after they were detained for about an hour and a half at the Râbnița checkpoint following a trip undertaken as part of an event organized by the National Office of Vine and Wine.

According to the newsroom, the journalists were declared “undesirable persons” based on a decision issued by the so-called Ministry of State Security back in September 2025, shortly after the Glossa team had been detained in Tiraspol while covering a story, and their filming equipment was confiscated and their video footage deleted without their consent.

We emphasize that the reported incidents are part of a series of illegal and abusive actions by the separatist regime in Tiraspol, directed against media representatives, including the illegal detention of cameramen from Studio-L TV (November 15, 2024), “  journalist Iliușin (June 24, 2024), and TV8 journalist Viorica Tătaru (January 24, 2024), as well as the declaration  of photojournalist Elena Covalenco as “undesirable” (September 21, 2023).

Tolerating these actions contributes to the consolidation of a closed information space, in which the work of the independent press is penalized and the public’s access to information of general interest is severely impaired.

The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the continued practices of intimidation and obstruction of journalists’ work by the separatist authorities in Tiraspol and point out that such actions are illegal, seriously undermine the practice of journalism, and restrict society’s access to information of public interest.

We recall that Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova guarantees freedom of opinion and expression, and Article 4(1) of the Law on Freedom of Expression obligates the state to guarantee the freedom of expression of the media. At the same time, paragraph (5) of the same article provides that the intentional and unlawful obstruction of media activities entails criminal liability.

We call on the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova to use all legal means to respond to this new case of violation of press freedom, to take the necessary steps to protect journalists, and to sanction any interference in the exercise of journalistic activities on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

The undersigned organizations call upon representatives of the international community who engage diplomatically with the self-proclaimed authorities in Tiraspol—including the OSCE Mission to Moldova, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Moldova, the European Union Delegation, and the embassies of EU member states, to address this serious violation of press freedom in bilateral dialogues and to make international support for the region’s development contingent upon respect for fundamental human rights and press freedom.

 Independent Journalism Center

Organizations that have endorsed the statement:

• Association of Independent Press
• Press Freedom Committee
• Acces-Info Center
• Center for Investigative Journalism
• RISE Moldova
• Media-Guard Association
• Association of Electronic Press