Tiraspol, 18 April. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Today, Tiraspol's Public Council has collected the necessary number of signatures under a statement issued by the capital's public organisations and brought them to the Supreme Council's public complaints and appeals department.
The statement calls on people's deputies to revoke the decree of 6 April 2016 «On procedure of providing information on the activities of the Supreme Council of the PMR», which bans the mass media, except those from the parliament's press service, from taking photographs and video footage during sessions.
«This means Pridnestrovians will see redacted materials provided by the Supreme Council 's press service," the statement reads. We believe that this decree was adopted by the majority of deputies to shun publicity, avoid public control, pass laws without electors' knowledge, which is not in the interest of the majority of our country's population.»
As the chair of the women's organisation «Tiraspol woman», Valentina Kornilova, has told Novosti Pridnestrovya, Tiraspol's public organisations have the right to know what happens in the country.
«We are demanding to revoke the decree. First, it is uncivilised. We say we are democrats, don't we? Then how is it possible to propose such bans in the Supreme Council? How is it possible that we don't know what happens with our authorities? This is why they have banned journalists to take video footage of session so that we do not know too much. If we don't know what they are doing, what laws they pass, even if they decide to betray us, we won't know that, we just wake up in the other country," said Valentina Kornilova.
Thus, public activists regard the Supreme Council's decree as restricting freedom of the press and the right to obtain information on the parliament's activities. They argue against any instances of censorship in Pridnestrovie and demand to cancel the document.
«We want to draw attention of all political parties, public organisations and movements of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Russian Federation and other CIS countries to the inadmissible actions of the Supreme Council, which took the path of freedom of speech restrictions in the PMR," reads the statement.
The statement has been signed by 20 representatives of public organisations.
