Usatîi: Authorities Prepared List of People to Be Deprived of Citizenship

The Our Party leader, Renato Usatîi, said that Amnesty International’s harsh statement against the Chisinau authorities was a signal sent by development partners. Usatîi claims that it happened after the partners learnt that the PAS government had prepared a list of more than 240 people who could be stripped of their Moldovan citizenship. ‘They presented the list in a private conversation with some of their advisers and named 246 people for revocation of citizenship. The first ten on the list are linked to Moldovan politics,’ Usatîi said. The politician claims that some development partners are shocked by the way the Moldovan leadership wants to ‘consolidate democracy and European values’. ‘The intention to deprive hundreds of people of citizenship looks idiotic, but those in power are capable of doing it. The real opposition must act urgently. However, not only criminal cases can be brought against them. ‘By Amnesty International’s statement amid the amendments regarding “state treason”, development partners make it clear that the actions of PAS representatives are wrong,’ Usatîi said. After the Moldovan Parliament adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code that redefine the term ‘state treason’, the executive director of Amnesty International Moldova, Veaceslav Tofan, said that these amendments were alarming. Amnesty International asked Maia Sandu not to publicize these amendments. ‘We ask the Parliament to repeal this law and call on the President not to publicize it. The Moldovan authorities must ensure that any law restricting the right to freedom of expression, as well as any coercive measures in the interests of national security, complies with the requirements of international human rights law regarding legality, legitimacy, necessity and proportionality, as well as the principle of non-discrimination,’ Amnesty International said in the statement.