Opinion: Authorities Are Building a Police State

The seized state allows the PAS to rule the country not only single-handedly, but also comfortably, under the protection of loyal security forces

Semyon ALBU, RTA: Today two new ministers, Dumitru Alaiba and Rodica Iordanova, were officially presented to the country in a solemn atmosphere. Speaking on the occasion, Maia Sandu, for the sake of appearances, scolded the government for various shortcomings, and then gave a big speech. She said that the ruling party must not only put out fires, but also guide Moldova on the right path, that is, build a democratic country for the people. Everyone knows how much these words contradict the reality. During the two years of Sandu’s presidency – and a year and a half of PAS rule – the republic once again became a captured state. And this time, the “capture” was so rapid and inclusive, so supported by western development partners, that there is a great fear that it will last much longer than before. Yes, the majority party has become more Plahotniuc-like than Plahotniuc himself. It holds all branches of power almost by a dead grip. The government consists exclusively of its “nestlings”, only it has a real say in the parliament, and the opposition has just a loud voice. We used to assume – and now, thanks to leaks of the private messages of the Minister of Justice and other prominent people, we know for sure – that justice has also been severely abused by the “yellows”. The Presidency is manipulating the appointment of judges, ensuring that the judiciary is staffed only by people loyal to itself, and is blocking the work of institutions not yet fully under its control, such as the Supreme Council of the Judiciary. The first staging ground for any decent capture of Moldova – the Constitutional Court – is in the hands of PAS for a long time. And in key prosecutorial positions, there are either endless controllable “actings”, or winners of rigged contests. A captured state not only makes it possible to rule the country unilaterally, but also to do so in comfort. No one even thinks of abolishing this convenient emergency regime, which makes it possible to mock the law without any special restrictions, to administer justice and to squander the budget money by giving it to the same Energocom for dubious and completely non-transparent operations on the energy market. But it is not enough to seize power – it is much more important to hold it. And here the work is also “in full swing” on all fronts. Thus, the electoral legislation is being revised, in such a way that as a result of the new scheme of formation, the CEC is also very conveniently placed under the hand control of the ruling party. I already talked about this once. The mass media are stabled: the most undesirable ones are blocked, while the rest are working under the threat of steep fines or even shutdown. At the same time, a whole horde of “court scribblers” has been trained, prepared to justify any lawlessness. You can understand what kind of freedom of speech is obtained in such conditions. And I haven’t even mentioned the law against disinformation... But the most important role in protecting the regime is, of course, that of the security forces. The government does everything for their fruitful work: extending their powers and providing the necessary ideological rationale. The PAS pretends that it is not against the democratic expression of citizens’ discontent, but at the same time labels all protesters as Kremlin hirelings and supporters of the war in Ukraine. This simple and deceitful idea is dispersed every day by the ruling party’s freaks: Igor Grosu, Dumitru Alaiba, Radu Marian and others, to whom a cohort of journalists and experts “on the payroll” sing along in unison. In the end, Sandu herself calls those who want to change power “thieves” and “criminal groups” with foreign forces, i.e. Russia, behind them. Thus, there is an obvious substitution of concepts. If you protest, you want to overthrow the government. If you want to overthrow the government, it means that you are against European integration, which it supposedly represents, and that you support Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Not that there is a terrible socio-economic crisis in the country. By calling, without any evidence, all dissatisfied people “Kremlin agents rocking the boat in the interests of the Russian secret services and the coup d’etat”, the government, in fact, untied the hands of its punitive apparatus and, most importantly, accelerated the process of building a police state in Moldova. This is not just a nice turn of phrase. The “masquerade” of Stoianoglo’s arrest was indeed the first sign. And now: mass raids on opposition party members, detentions with unmotivated use of special forces, illegal surveillance and wiretaps, as in Dodon’s house – and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Interior Minister Ana Revenco speaks only about the “hand of Moscow” while her staff – as we found out selected on the basis of loyalty at the suggestion of party cells – cancels the protesters by the dozens and disperse their tent camps near the state institutions. Not even Plahotniuc allowed himself to do that. Moreover, the Minister fully supports the repression of the opposition and is ready to fully cooperate with it. The “police state” is still only at the beginning of its development. That is, what we see now is just the beginning. However, we have also tasted some fruit, such as the intimidation action in Gagauzia, where, after the protests, by pure coincidence, fully equipped Fulger police special forces were brought in, allegedly for exercises. This is the teaser of the beautiful future, which is now being forged in the bowels of the ruling party. And all because the already considerable powers of security services will be expanded. For example, more power will be given to the Security and Information Service, which, as its chief confesses, is overcrowded and feels poorly in the current legal framework. A new package of laws has already been prepared, which will expand the powers of the special service in order to better fight against, as Grosu said, “the Russian agents flooding the banks of the Dniester”. At the same time, the Parliament wants to tighten the provisions of the law regarding the crimes of treason and work for the interests of foreign states. The police will also develop legal power. A draft law has been prepared on the powers and functions of the police. It is not difficult to guess that its content will obviously not contribute to the strengthening of democracy in the country. But it will help to strengthen the police state, which will be a reliable guard for the ruling party – or for its successors, if the uselessness of the PAS finally becomes boring to their Western mentors.