Another LGBQTI+ scandal involving representatives of the community is unfolding in Chișinău.
Angelica Frolova, head of the organization Genderdoc-M, said that two police officers stopped a woman from the LGBTIQ+ community in the street, took her phone, looked through her private photos, and then demanded 3,000 lei in order “not to create problems.”
Two Versions of the Incident
The story quickly spread across social media and Telegram channels. Frolova insists that the police actions amounted to pressure and intimidation of a person on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The police, however, see the situation differently. They said the patrol officers noticed a woman who was “frequently looking at her phone while also seeming to search for something on the ground.” That behavior appeared suspicious, and officers did not rule out that she might be involved in the possession or use of prohibited substances.
Police Response
“The phone was checked superficially, and the officers acted strictly within protocol. After the check, they continued patrol duty,” the department said.
The police also stressed that the intervention was not connected to discrimination against the LGBQTI+ community and that the information circulating in the media does not reflect the real situation.
Word Against Word
Who is right in this case remains unclear for now. The complainant has one version, while the police have a directly opposite one. So far, there has been no official confirmation of extortion or other unlawful actions by law enforcement officers.
Still, the very fact of such a public accusation, against the backdrop of long-standing tension between LGBQTI+ activists and the security structures, has already drawn the attention of human rights defenders.
It is possible that the woman was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, while police officers under pressure to show results in the fight against drug trafficking may have gone too far in their vigilance. It is also possible that the story is more complicated. But for now, it is one word against another.
