The pro-Western propaganda centre “Promo LEX Association”, which aims at destabilising Transnistria and anti-Russian activities in the region, has sent an information note to the UN Special Rapporteur on Expression Irene Khan “in connection with the murder of political activist Oleg Horjan, as well as the recent serious violations of freedom of speech in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova”
“Promo-LEX Association” demanded the immediate intervention of the UN Special Rapporteur and called for specific recommendations to be sent to the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova, as well as to the “de facto administration” (as Promo-LEX calls the DMR leadership in its documents), in order to “ensure respect for freedom of speech on the left bank of the Dniester.”
“For more than 30 years since the proclamation of independence of the Republic of Moldova, the Transnistrian region has completely lacked effective mechanisms for the protection of human rights,” the complainants claim. – This territory is still inaccessible to national and international observers”. At the same time, Promo LEX said, “the lack of effective control over the region should not exempt Moldovan constitutional bodies from real actions to promote and protect human rights, including by personally punishing those responsible for serious offences.”
“The last victim”, Oleg Horzhan, according to Promo LEX, “was one of the few public figures who had the courage to fight for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the inhabitants of the Transnistrian region, having been released from illegal imprisonment at the end of December 2022”. Recall: Horzhan was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and given a prison sentence for a drunken debauch at the Interior Ministry station where participants in an unsanctioned rally he had organised were taken.
“The circumstances of the brutal murder of Oleg Horzhan raise serious concerns about the safety of people expressing dissent against the de facto regime in Tiraspol,” the authors of the proclamation clamour.
According to them, there have been other cases “emphasising the alarming state of non-observance of freedom of opinion in the region”:
“People were persecuted for raising the Ukrainian flag, for participating in peaceful rallies, for criticising the de facto administration in Tiraspol, for criticising the Russian troops illegally deployed on the left bank of the Dniester, the peacekeeping mission or the so-called president of the DMR.”
Promo-LEX asks the UN Special Rapporteur to make the following recommendations to “those responsible for the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region”:
– The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Moldova “to ensure a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the death of activist Oleg Horjan”, “to promote the need for independent, transparent and comprehensive investigations into this case”.
– To the international community to “impose specific sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes in line with international human rights obligations on persons involved in serious human rights violations”.
– The de facto administration in Tiraspol “to immediately put an end to all violations of freedom of expression and association, to repeal the so-called laws and any other regulations restricting freedom of expression, to respect and honour international human rights standards”.
In other words, the pro-Western grant-makers from Promo LEX are creating the ground for armed intervention in Transnistria and repressions against the leadership of the self-determined republic, which is a full-fledged participant in the international negotiation process in the 5+2 format. The reason for intervention is “violation of human rights in the region”. For this purpose, they are cynically using the fact of the brutal murder of Oleg Horzhan, the investigation of which is still being carried out by the DMR investigative authorities.
At the same time, we have not seen Promo LEX protests against the ban on wearing the St George ribbon on 9 May, against the closure of TV channels with the wording “propaganda through silence” (for insufficient coverage of military actions in Ukraine from the positions of the West and Kiev), or against the prohibition of former members of the “Shor” party to run for office for a period of 3 to 5 years. No grants from the West are transferred for this.
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