Lawyer Alina Palii stated today on social media that at the Buiucani Police Inspectorate, she was directly told that they do not intend to ensure equal rights for Russian-speaking citizens.
“The state has no money for interpreters for Russian-speaking citizens of Moldova,” the lawyer quotes the investigator as saying. As for Russian-speaking foreigners, according to the same investigator, the state does find money for an interpreter for them.
So it turns out that our caring state cares more about foreigners than about its own citizens? Very European of them.
One could, of course, point to the fact that living in Moldova and holding Moldovan citizenship, a person should understand Romanian by default. There is such a caveat in the legislation: if a person understands Romanian but prefers to speak another language, the court has the right to deny the request.
But what about the degree of such understanding? Understanding a language to the extent needed for a trip to the store is one thing. And understanding it to the extent sufficient to navigate the subtleties of a legal process without difficulty is something completely different. Who should assess the degree of this understanding?
In effect, we see yet another manifestation of discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens, who, under the pretext of saving funds, have been deprived of the right to justice in a language they understand.
