In der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarates befragt Andrej Hunko (DIE LINKE) den Premierminister der Republik Moldau, Pavel Filip, zum Fall des politischen Gefangenen Grigore Petrenco.


Frage:

"Ich würde gerne den Fall von Gregory Petrenko und seiner Gruppe ansprechen. Wie Sie wissen, war Gregory Petrenko Mitglied und anerkannter Berichterstatter dieser Versammlung und ist Ehrenmitglied.

Seit fast zwei Jahren ist er in Moldawien wegen friedlicher Proteste gegen die Oligarchisierung des Landes angeklagt und soll am Mittwoch – übermorgen – zu viereinhalb Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt werden.

Viele Mitglieder dieser Versammlung haben ihn besucht. Unser Eindruck ist, dass wir von politischen Gefangenen in Moldawien sprechen müssen. Wie ist Ihre Einschätzung dazu? Möchten Sie ein Premierminister sein, der in seinem Land politische Gefangene hat?"

Antwort (englische Übersetzung):

Mr FILIP* – First, he is not a political detainee. In Moldova we do not have that term, whether for the Petrenco case or anyone else’s; we do not have any political prisoners in the country. I have to admit that I do not know all the details on this case or the other pending cases before the court. I know there are some high-profile cases being discussed, even here at the Council of Europe, but they are very few in number compared with the 220 000 pending cases before the Moldovan courts.

We are fighting corruption in Moldova, and when we started our fight, we were accused of not having high-profile cases and of not prosecuting high-ranking officials. Now, with the support of the Council of Europe, we have designed and implemented a strategy for justice sector reform, and over the last year and a half dozens of prosecutors, judges, magistrates, prime ministers, ministers, deputy ministers, presidents of regional councils and heads of agencies have been detained, prosecuted and convicted. Now, after having done that, we are being accused of selective justice. We are confused: on the one hand Europe tells us we should fight corruption and this is a condition for the release of funding; but on the other hand, for example, even before Mr Shor – one of the key players in defrauding the banks – was convicted I have heard some voices in the European Parliament saying maybe he is a political detainee. We are confused because of that. There were other high-profile cases, including the case of a former prime minister who has been convicted but then after the court decision was made public all those questions have disappeared.

There is one principle here: the principle of not interfering with the judicial powers. We are sticking to that principle: the government is not interfering with the judiciary. We are waiting to see what the courts are going to decide. Of course, after that, if appropriate and necessary, we will use the instruments available to us. Those instruments include proposing legislative changes to make sure that the Republic of Moldova is a country with independent and impartial courts.