Police officers threaten to organize strikes, say new authorities allowing too many criminal cases to be filed against them

Stirea Zilei and Unimedia write that a group of police officers have threatened to organize strikes tomorrow to protest the fact that the new authorities are allegedly allowing too many criminal cases to be filed against them.

Many police officers were accused of beating and torturing protesters right after the April 7 violent demonstrations in downtown Chisinau. A few deaths were tied to the repression. A recent Soros Foundation report said that about 700 people were detained a few days after April 7, 300 of which were beaten and tortured.

Prosecutor General Valeriu Zubco told Unimedia that he had not heard about the strike, but that he would be meeting tomorrow with police officers suspected of wrongdoing on April 6 and 7. Mr. Zubco stressed that authorities are going to only punish the police officers who were guilty of abuse. He mentioned that thus far there are 31 criminal cases filed against police officers, out of more than 100 complaints.

Ties between reformist governments and security forces have often been tense in the post-Soviet area. In Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili dismissed thousands of traffic police officers because of corruption allegations.

In Moldova, security forces have often been accused of being pro-Communist, and relations with the new ruling Alliance have rather rocky thus far.