Ziarul de Gardă » MOLDOVA: crackdown on dissent must stop

Ziarul de Gardă » MOLDOVA: crackdown on dissent must stop

ARTICLE 19 condemns the climate of fear created by the Moldovan government, including the intimidation and censorship of dissenting voices and the media. The organisation calls on the authorities to release all those imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their views, and urges them to establish the whereabouts of those that have allegedly “disappeared”. ARTICLE 19 also demands that that those peacefully expressing their views are protected from arbitrary detention and police brutality.



On 7 April, following a peaceful protest on 6 April by up to 10.000 people to ‘mourn’ the outcome of the elections, rioting broke out in the capital of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau. Independent reports indicate that police used excessive force to disperse the demonstration. As a smaller protest continued on 8 April, police, both in plain cloths and in uniform, intimidated and attacked groups of protesters and journalists.



According to local reports, a group of young people were taken by police in plain clothing behind the National Palace in Chisinau, where they were beaten up and driven away in cars to an undisclosed location. Journalists from ‘Ziarul de Garda’ a national newspaper, who attempted to take pictures of the incident, were in turn assaulted by unidentified people in uniform and others dressed in black, who quickly removed themselves from the scene once a TV crew arrived. Uniformed police officers present refused to intervene and police did not respond to telephone calls by the journalists.



In another incident on 8 April a cameraman, Oleg Brega, leaving the protests in the evening, was attacked by people dressed in black, who stole his camera and he had to receive hospital treatment. On 9 April, together with another journalist he failed to return his phone calls and his whereabouts are currently unknown. His colleagues fear he has been arrested by police: ‘We don’t know where they and others are and will start an intensive search by visiting police stations in every district of Chisinau’, said Vanu Egheri of the Moldovan Institute for Human Rights.



On 9 April, local sources indicate that a number of students, who participated in the demonstrations, were removed from their university building in two cars and taken to an unknown location. At least 200 people, including minors, are currently in detention in relation to the demonstrations.



According to the local Independent Journalism Center at least 20 Romanian journalists were reportedly denied entry to Moldova on 7 and 8 April and internet sites, both news and social networking sites such as Facebook were blocked. The re-transmission of at least two TV service providers of a Romanian TV channel was stopped and the public broadcaster did not show any live footage of the demonstrations.



Although the organizers of the 6 April demonstration have immediately distanced themselves from the 7 April demonstration and the violence that followed, the Moldovan General Prosecutor’s office has indicated it is opening up to 30 criminal cases against the instigators of the 6 April demonstration, holding them responsible for the mass disturbances under Article 285(3) of the Criminal Code. If convicted they could be imprisoned for up to 8 years. They could also be charged with an attempt to overthrow the government, which is punishable with up to 25 years imprisonment.



“ARTICLE 19 is deeply worried about the current level of repression and crackdown in Moldova . We are extremely concerned about the well being of our colleagues and their friends and families, and all peaceful demonstrators, facing arrest and violence, and possible “disappearances». The crackdown is a sad reflection of the inability of the Moldovan government to govern and provide for its people”, said Dr. Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director.



ARTICLE 19 considers that the current climate of fear, through intimidation, attacks and possible ‘disappearances’ of peaceful demonstrators and journalists, and the censorship of the media, through assaults on journalist, entry bans and blocking of websites violate fundamental human rights, and in particular the right to freedom of expression. The fundamental right to freedom of expression is enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the Republic of Moldova acceded to in 1993 and is bound to uphold. If the authorities fail to conduct a prompt investigation into the allegations mentioned above they will further breach their obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, which entered into force in Moldova in 1997.



As further protests are imminent, initiated by unknown organizers via SMS, ARTICLE 19 calls on the Moldovan government to ensure that the peaceful protesters are able to speak out and journalists can report without fear in accordance with international human rights standards.



NOTES TO EDITORS:
For more info rmation: please contact Nathalie Losekoot, ARTICLE 19 Senior Program Officer, Europe , at: +44-207278 9292 or nathalie@article19.org
ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works around the world to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees free speech

Grigore Vieru: Moldovan poet

Grigore Vieru: Moldovan poet | Times Online Obituary

The Nazi-Soviet pact of August 1939 was implemented in two stages. The first was when Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them in 1939. The second came in the summer of 1940 when Hitler took France and most of the rest of Western Europe and Stalin absorbed lands on his southwestern border.

Among the latter was Bessarabia, which had been part of Romania since the end of the First World War. Its population was diverse, ethnically and in terms of religion, but the Romanians were the dominant element. The region reverted to Romania in the Second World War but after 1945 it was reincorporated into the Soviet Union, becoming the Soviet Republic of Moldavia.

In Soviet times the Romanians of Moldavia were forced into a subordinate position; and under one communist boss of Moldavia, Leonid Brezhnev, many Romanian speakers were resettled in other Soviet territories; this was one of the main reasons for the visceral hatred the dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, had for Brezhnev.

But Romanian cultural life in Soviet Moldavia could not be extirpated, and when the Soviet Union collapsed Romanians resumed their predominant role in what became the independent Republic of Moldova. The standard bearers of Romanian culture in Soviet and independent Moldova were the intelligentsia, in which the poet Grigore Vieru was a prominent figure.

He was born in 1935, in the village of Pererata in the Hotin county in the far northeast of Romanian Bessarabia. His parents were farmers. His obvious talent earned him a place at the Ion Creanga Pedagogical State University in the Moldavian capital, Chisinau. He took his degree in history and philology in 1958, by when he was already established as a poet of promise. His first volume of verse, poems for children, had been published in 1957.

Like many intellectuals in the Soviet system, Vieru found work in a variety of publishing houses. In 1959 he was appointed editor of the journal Nistru, published by the Moldovan Writers' Union and between 1960 and 1963 he was editor-in-chief of the Cartea Moldoveneasca publishing house.

If publishing produced his salary it was poetry which made his name. In 1965 he published Poetry for Readers of All Ages, the book being awarded the Moldovan Prize for Youth Literature two years later. In 1968 came what was probably his most notable publication, Your Name, which was a popular text among Romanian students in the universities of Soviet Moldavia. Other popular volumes included Close, A Green Sees Us, Because I Love and The Little Bee, the latter being an important work because it was Moldova’s first Romanian language manual for young children.

The official language was Russian, and cultural relations between the region and Romania were sensitive and frequently hostile. It was not until 1973 that Vieru was able to visit Romania; he joked that whereas some people dream of going to the Moon, his ambition was to cross the Prut, the river that divided Soviet Moldavia from Romania. He visited again in 1974 and 1977 as a guest of the Romanian Writers’ Union. In 1978 The Friday Star became the first of his books to be published in Romania.

No doubt partly for reasons of political circumspection Vieru published in Russian as well as Romanian, but there was never any doubt that his primary loyalty lay with the language of his birth. With the collapse of Soviet power he became overtly politically active. In 1989 he was elected to the Moldovan parliament. He was prominent in the campaigns to secure recognition for Romanian as an official language in the Moldovan Republic and for that language to be written in the Roman rather than the Cyrillic alphabet.

Both campaigns were successful. When Moldova proclaimed its independence in August 1991 Vieru was prominent among those who argued, in vain, for the unification of Moldova and Romania.

Nevertheless, his efforts earned him the gratitude of cultural nationalists in Romania. In 1990 he was made an honorary member of the Romanian Academy, and in 1992 that body nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2000 he was awarded the Eminescu medal by the Romanian Government.

On Vieru’s death the Romanian President, Traian Basescu, declared that he had been “the voice of the Romanian conscience”, and bestowed upon him the republic’s Order of the Star of Romania with the rank of High Cross.

The failure of the campaign for the union of Moldova and Romania did not diminish Vieru’s stature in Moldova. He was widely recognised as the republic’s greatest poet and the day of his funeral was declared a day of national mourning.

Vieru is survived by his wife, Raisa, whom he married in 1959, and their two sons.

Grigore Vieru, poet and politician, was born on February 14, 1935. He died from injuries after a car accident on January 18, 2009, aged 73

GPG: Gross Rental Yields in Moldova

Gross Rental Yields in Moldova

Moldova: Gross rental yields (%).

The gross annual rental income, expressed as a percentage of property purchase price. This is what a landlord can expect as return on his investment before taxes, maintenance fees and other costs.

The properties are 120-sq. m. apartments located in premier city centres. (See our list of premier cities)

The gross rental returns (or rental yields) figures published by the Global Property Guide are based on the Global Property Guides own proprietary in-house research.

Only resale apartments and houses are researched. Yields for newly-built properties are not included.

Buyers should expect the rental yields of new properties to be lower than the gross rental yields published by the Global Property Guide.

Properties will be in excellent condition, with good facilities, and have been refurbished or redecorated within the last five years.

When was this data collected? Click on individual countries to see the data collection date.

Source: Global Property Guide Research

GPG: Spectacular yields in Chisinau

Moldova Rental Yields - Spectacular yields in Chisinau

Rental yields for 45 sq.m. apartments in Chisinau are slightly higher at 15.32% versus 100 sq.m properties. Both figures are spectacular however, at an average of 14.75% according to Global Property Guide estimates.

Last Updated: Aug. 29, 2008
CHISINAU - Apartments	COST (€)		YIELD (p.a.)	PRICE/SQ.M. (€)
	TO BUY	MONTHLY RENT		TO BUY	MONTHLY RENT
45 sq. m.	41,130	525	15.32%	914	11.67
100 sq. m.	101,300	1,196	14.17%	1,013	11.96
Districts researched: Chisinau: Center, Telecenter, Botanica, Rascani. Source: Global Property Guide Definitions: Data FAQ See also: Update Schedule

Great private rental apartment Chisinau Centre, Kishinev Moldova, Lodging, accomodation, hostel

Great private rental apartment Chisinau Centre, Kishinev Moldova, Lodging, accomodation, hostel

Real estate renting (residential and commercial) is a very profitable way of investment in Chisinau /
Kishinev, capital of Moldova, one of the former Soviet Countries near the Black Sea and now since
1994 Partner with the European Union.

Than means more international contacts and businesses (yes it is still all not 100%, but every day
progress is made), more and more business people travel in and our Chisinau and more and more
international companies open an office here and their management need housing.

As from January 2007 Moldova is neighbor of the EU with Romania and visas are no longer be
needed for most tourists coming to Moldova.

What leading real estate watchers tell about Chisinau:

* °°° Article of 18 January 2007 by RENTHUSIAST.ORG
* °°° Matthew Montagu-Polloc from the The Global Property Guide (The Global Property
Guide is a research publication and web site (http://www.globalpropertyguide.com) for
the high net worth investor in residential property.
* °°° See tables at: http://globalpropertyguide.com//articleread.php?article_id=82&cid=

These are a few of the reasons why you should hurry up and profit from the growing real
estate market here.

We can offer you the whole process of obtaining a property here and put it in rental investment:
locating the property, representing you in managing the property. With over 20 years of experience
in architecture, real estate and apartment rental managing and marketing, we are the right partner
for you here in Chisinau. Our knowledge of local real estate market and our marketing will
guarantee you a good return on your investments.

Our office -represented by architect Daniel Verheecke- offer you the following services:

• Market your property to minimize vacancies and maximize income by filling vacancies
with the best possible tenants by providing maximum visibility and exposure through
Internet marketing and other means of advertising (newspapers, printed materials etc.)
• Provide the most personal attention to you as the Property Owner -we thrive on that
service- as well as our most personal attention to our Guest that stay at your property.
• Establish and fully explain the policies and procedures involved in renting your
property.
• Personal-On-site Property Manager walk-thru inspection upon guest arrival and
departure.
• Send you monthly financial rapport and evaluation
• Collect rental payments promptly and .
• Recommend rent increases when appropriate.
• Track income and expenses to determine profitability

The future market value of your apartment/house depends among other factors on the overall
physical condition. We strive to keep rental properties in their best condition to be competitive on
the market. To insure this we:

• Keep you well informed of everything going on.
• Supervise all maintenance and repairs.
• Regularly inspect the properties to make sure everything is in order and provide you a
detailed report.

If you are planning to buy investment property or you already have it in Chisinau feel free to
contact us to see how we can work for you.

The global house price slump

BusinessWorld Beyond : Global Property Group

There are two islands of good value in Eastern Europe. In Chisinau, Moldova, apartments can return high rental yields, in the mid-teens. However, the risks are high.

A more likely prospect for most buyers is Macedonia, which has been enjoying a house price boom, thanks to a stronger economy and a more stable political environment. Gross rental yields in the capital, Skopje, are around 10%.

Risers and fallers - The Banker - The big surprise is Moldova

Risers and fallers - The Banker

The big surprise is Moldova, a small eastern European country with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of just $1830, ranks fifth. Moldova has very low levels of debt ($763 per capita, compared with the UK’s $171,000 per capita), and its banks have high capital-to-asset ratios of more than 17% and low levels of lending.


Fewer loans

According to the World Bank, banks in Moldova have extended loans worth just 35% of GDP, compared with the US, where domestic bank lending has reached 230% of GDP. Moldova pays just 2.8% of public sector revenues to service government debt but Italy, for example, spends 11.9% of government revenues on interest payments.