The Independent Journalism Center, together with co-signing non-governmental media organizations, expresses its solidarity with the team of the Zona de Securitate media outlet and condemns the pressure and intimidation exerted by the mayor of Varnita, Alexandr Nichitenco, in connection with the conduct of a public information campaign on the energy situation in the Transnistrian region.
On May 13, the editorial office installed an informational banner on a billboard managed by a local business as part of the #UEpeNistru media campaign. The 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 editorial office, the mayor of Varnita exerted direct pressure on journalists and the business managing the advertising space, including through threatening phone calls and an ultimatum to remove the banner.
Alexandr Nichitenco allegedly invoked “interventions” by the self-proclaimed authorities in Tiraspol and resorted to intimidation, including threatening to restrict journalists’ access to the Security Zone in Varnița. The banner was removed that same evening, despite attempts by journalists to find a peaceful and legal solution.
The signatory NGOs describe these actions as a serious attack on freedom of expression and a defiant attempt to obstruct journalistic activity. Such practices are unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law and constitute a flagrant departure from the principles of democracy and pluralism of opinion.
We draw attention to the fact that journalists on the right bank of the Nistru River do not have free access to the Transnistrian region, and that information activities carried out in localities under the constitutional jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova, such as Varnita, are one of the few ways in which the public on the left bank of the Nistru River can be informed in a correct and balanced manner.
We express our support for the journalists of the Zona de Securitate editorial office and their efforts to reflect 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 intervene urgently to remedy and prevent such episodes of intimidation and censorship.
Independent Journalism Center
Association of Electronic Press
Association of Independent Press
Access-Info Center
Media-Guard Association
Association of Environmental and EcoTourism Journalists of Moldova
Center for Investigative Journalism
RISE Moldova
Press Freedom Committee
