Tiraspol, September, 13. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. PMR Foreign Minister Vitaly Ignatiev commented on the information about the fact that Moldovan officials could come to Pridnestrovie without notice. This information had appeared in the Moldovan media.
“The information that appeared with the filing of my Moldovan counterpart in the media does not fully reflect the content of the pilot project that Tiraspol and Chisinau plan to implement,” the PMR Foreign Minister said.
Politically Motivated Criminal Cases
He recalled the background of the question. The problem free movement is directly related to the issue of politically motivated criminal cases against PMR citizens.
“This is a long-standing topic that we have been dealing with for many years. There were protocol decisions in 2013 and 2014. There was a protocol decision signed in Berlin following the meeting of the “Permanent Meeting ...” in June 2016, which clearly indicated that the solution to the problem of free movement was connected with the final solution to the criminal cases problem,” the Minister said.
“Many representatives of the republic fell under special discriminatory control regimes. This is a measure of pressure on all citizens of Pridnestrovie, and, of course, this negatively affected the rights and freedoms of our people,” Vitaly Ignatiev said.
New Line
A new phase of work in this direction began this summer.
“The Moldovan side must fulfill this agreement, but recently we have not seen any dynamics in closing criminal cases. We were told stories that such cases did not exist or that, actually, that problem could not be solved,” the Foreign Minister stated.
The Pridnestrovian side had an active dialogue with Moldovan colleagues, to which the OSCE, mediators and observers joined in the “5 + 2” format negotiation process. Vitaly Ignatiev said that the draft protocol decision has been prepared by the Pridnestrovian side and sent to the Moldovan colleagues.
Yesterday, a political representative of the Republic of Moldova informed about a personal meeting with the Prosecutor General in order to prepare for the practical phase of resolving this acute humanitarian problem.
Pilot Project
To date, an agreement has been reached on the implementation of a pilot project. The Minister said that its essence was that the Moldovan side had committed itself not to create discriminatory conditions for all Pridnestrovian officials` movement without exception across the territory of Moldova.
According to Ignatiev, the night before, the Moldovan side confirmed with the official document to the representatives of the international “5 + 2” format the undertaken obligations.
The head of the foreign ministry outlined the most significant aspects of the pilot project.
The Moldovan side recognizes the existence of such a category as Pridnestrovian officials. These citizens will be staying in the Republic of Moldova or crossing the border of a neighboring state without the risk of applying any form of discrimination to them in the form of border detentions, searches, heavy checks at the airport, etc. In addition, the Moldovan side has officially confirmed its commitment to solve the most important problem related to criminal cases.
“Yesterday we received information that the political representative of Moldova asked the Prosecutor General of the RM to draw up a list of Pridnestrovian officials to further resolve the problem,” Vitaly Ignatiev said.
An important point of the pilot project is the agreement that Moldovan officials cannot carry out any official or political activities in the PMR. The PMR Foreign Minister explained that the matter was that Pridnestrovie would cancel the notification procedure for officials of a neighboring state who transit through the territory of the republic for purely personal purposes. They can do it like all other Moldovan citizens – with their passport.
“We hope that the pilot project will be effective and will be the first step towards solving the problem of free movement and criminal cases, and the main agreement parameters will be consolidated within the upcoming meeting framework in the “5 + 2” format,” Vitaly Ignatiev said.
He said that during the meeting the day before, the Moldovan political representative, Vasily Shova, had announced information on the interest Republic of Moldova Prime Minister, Maya Sandu, in the speedy solution of the criminal cases problem and free movement.
