“Sandu’s Major Enemy Now”: Irina Vlah Told about Pressure from Law Enforcers

Irina Vlah said that she and her supporters had been under unprecedented pressure from law enforcers. The ex-bashkan of Gagauzia and leader of the Platform Moldova movement, Irina Vlah, said at a press conference that she is under pressure as a presidential candidate. According to Vlah, she was subjected to increased “attacks, intimidation, manipulation and lies by those who serve Maia Sandu’s regime” and this “exceeds all permissible moral and legal limits”. Vlah showed pictures of cars and secret service officers who, according to her, are following her to meetings with citizens, and said her supporters are threatened with dismissal from their jobs and the mayors with whom she holds meetings with deprivation of projects under the European Village programme. “There is an enormous pressure on the local authorities, on those who receive me - primars, businessmen, ordinary citizens. When I come to the district, the primars ask: Mrs. Vlah, what happened, why so much attention to your person? On the day I have to come to the district, the authorities organize a whole special operation on the spot. The primar receives calls from the local police commissioner, the SIS, the State Chancellery, a member of the ruling party. Sometimes they insistently recommend the cancellation of meetings with Vlah, sometimes they demand in a commanding tone. This has been in place since the beginning of this year. But after I announced my nomination, these abuses have reached a new level. I can’t call it anything else but hysteria,” Irina Vlah said.