Public activist Andrei Ioniță has released a video statement claiming that he was summoned to the police over a Facebook post and asked to provide a written explanation.
According to the blogger, he was called to the Strășeni Police Inspectorate because of a photograph he had shared on his Facebook page during Moldova’s presidential election campaign. Ioniță points out that the image itself was originally created as part of a journalistic publication by Vitalie Sprînceanu back in 2016. However, the police have never questioned Sprînceanu. Instead, their attention has turned to political activists whose only “offense,” according to Ioniță, was reposting journalistic content.
Ioniță expressed his disbelief:
“They’ve reached the point where they fine citizens for expressing political opinions and for reposting journalistic content. What’s more, I shared this photograph while I was in Germany, on Facebook—an American platform.”
According to him, someone recently searched through his social media timeline, found the years-old election-related post, filed a complaint, and the police immediately responded.
He contrasted this response with what he described as a lack of urgency in addressing other issues, such as telephone fraud, drug trafficking, or reports of migrants being housed in student dormitories.
Returning to his own case, Ioniță said police officers demanded that he write an explanatory statement.
“I told them that I wouldn’t write anything without a lawyer. I’ll hire one and come back,” the blogger said.
After leaving the police station, he recorded and published a video message addressing the incident.
“You cannot intimidate people, silence them, or issue fines for political opinions or publications. This is the European Union. These are people’s rights,” he said, adding that he believes Brussels closely monitors whether democratic standards and legal protections are being upheld by Moldova’s authorities.
