Moldova press freedom challenged by border incident
Publicist Andrei Colguț has said on Facebook that he has been stopped for the tenth time without explanation, describing the latest incident as politically motivated.
“The reason for the repression against us is purely political, because this rotten power vertical does not like people who know how to raise problems and speak about them publicly,” Colguț said.
According to him, the latest incident took place at the Sculeni border checkpoint. The journalist said he was not only stopped, but also had his personal belongings searched.
“Happy anniversary to me! A whole tenth time on the ‘second line’. This time I was both stopped and had my personal belongings searched. At the moment, I am still not being allowed to leave the country. The motive is obviously political,” he wrote.
Colguț links the incident to what he describes as a damaging practice of pressure on disloyal journalists, which he says has become routine under the Sandu regime. He recalled that his problems at the border began in May, when he first faced what he called arbitrary treatment by the border service while travelling to Romania through Sculeni.
On that occasion, he said, he was eventually allowed out on the Moldovan side and entered Romania without difficulty. The same situation repeated itself on the way back, when he was returning home. Since then, by his count, problems have occurred nine more times, both at land crossings and at Chișinău Airport.
Colguț says delays are used as pressure
Colguț considers one case at the airport especially telling. He said he was allowed through only five minutes before boarding closed, without being given any explanation.
“They often made me worry about missing my flight, let me through five minutes before boarding ended and, in a mocking way, denied me any explanation at all,” the publicist wrote.
He stressed that the issue was not the destination. According to him, he has travelled only to EU countries, not to “enemy countries”, as officials like to call them. In Europe, he said, he was always allowed through and treated with respect.
“What is paradoxical is that in Europe I was allowed through everywhere and every time. My rights were respected first of all as a human being and as the citizen of another country. They did not allow themselves the kind of behaviour that the satraps in our own state resort to whenever they get the chance,” he said.
He also mentioned the case of his colleague and close friend, television presenter and public figure Denis Vyatkin. According to Colguț, Vyatkin was also stopped at a border checkpoint and deliberately prevented from reaching his flight in time.
When asked why he had been stopped and searched, Colguț said law enforcement officers replied: “You need to be simpler. So that you do not have problems in future.” By then, the plane had already left Chișinău Airport.
‘A dictatorship is emerging in Moldova’
Colguț concluded that a dictatorship is taking shape in Moldova.
“The state, or more precisely the appendix made up of those in power, sorts, intimidates, oppresses and mocks dissenters, depriving us of the right to free movement, basic freedom of thought and freedom of speech, as if we citizens were nothing more than property, a powerless trinket,” he said.
He dedicated his post to “all political prisoners and the politically repressed”.
“We are the only ones capable of speaking the truth not in closed circles, but in public. The only ones who, without flinching, despite all the failed attempts to intimidate us, continue to fight injustice and arbitrariness,” the publicist wrote.
He ended the post with words of solidarity for everyone exposing what he called the crimes of the Sandu regime, despite threats and repression.
“It is more important than ever for us to speak about this. In this case, it is not the word, but the absence of the word, that is a crime against common sense and freedom. I express my support for every healthy citizen of our country, and not only our country, who is not afraid to praise freedom and call for justice. And remember: the more the authorities writhe in agony, the closer their merciless collapse becomes.”
Tofan claims Moldova has strong and free media
Against this background, it is notable that Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan told CNN that the country has strong and free media.
“First of all, strong and free media and in Moldova this is exactly the case. We have made significant progress in terms of media freedom. But at the same time, we cannot be too naive about the tools they use. That is why very strong security services are needed, and in Moldova we have them,” he said.
As the latest case shows, Moldova press freedom appears to exist under reinforced control. In practice, journalists who criticise the authorities say they face stops, searches and obstacles when trying to leave the country.
For Colguț, the issue is no longer just one border incident. It is a broader test of whether Moldova press freedom is real, or whether it survives only as a line for foreign interviews while inconvenient journalists are kept under pressure at home.
