The Soros Foundation released a report today saying that "Moldovan police beat and otherwise ill-treated at least 300 peaceful protesters of the nearly 700 they detained following the parliamentary elections in April."
After the Party of Communists won legislative elections on April 5, 2009, thousands of peaceful protesters demonstrated in downtown Chisinau on April 6 and 7. On April 7, a group of violent protesters began throwing stones at police officers and eventually made their way into the Parliament and Presidential buildings, where they set a few floors ablaze. Communist authorities later admitted that security forces allowed these protesters to enter the buildings.
On the night of April 7, Moldovan police started a massive repression campaign, arresting hundreds of people, some of whom were not even at the protest in front of the Presidential and Parliamentary buildings. Many of those detained were either taken into an unknown direction or to police stations, where they were beaten and tortured. At least one death, that of Valeriu Boboc, was connected to the repression.
The Soros Foundation report has the most comprehensive information about the number of people detained and the degree of abuse to which they were subjected. It also offers recommendations to the new Moldovan authorities.
Both the English- and the Romanian-language versions of the report are available here. Warning: the report includes a lot of shocking testimonies from the young men and women who were beaten and tortured in police stations.
h/t www.stireazilei.md
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