Moldovan Premier Grants Prisoner Amnesty

17 October 2003 Declaring Moldova's penitentiaries overcrowded, Moldovan Premier Vasile Tarlev asked the Justice Ministry on 15 October to "reduce the number of detainees from 11,000 down to 7,000." The amnesty of several thousand inmates, he said, would have a positive effect, particularly on the country's economic and financial situation.

"The Justice Ministry should especially release elderly [inmates] who have committed milder offences, and some minors…" he added.

Tarlev also urged the rapid evacuation of the prison in Tighina Street of Chisinau, saying that no "high risk" institution should be located in the capital. "If the Justice Ministry cares so much about the building [housing the penitentiary] in Tighina Street, it might open a museum there," he suggested.

But Andrei Vicol, deputy chief of the Penitentiary Department, told BASA than an immediate amnesty of about 4,000 detainees is impossible.

"The government has already worked out an amnesty project, and persons who had committed mild offences will be soon released, though not so many; much less than 4,000," Vicol said.

According to Vicol, a group of convicts will indeed be released under a new penal policy that promotes--among other options- alternative penalties like community work. He agreed with Tarlev that the number of detainees should decline gradually but markedly, since caring for 11,000 inmates is too large a burden for the small country. Moldova has a population of 4.7 million people.

Amnesty was last declared in Moldova in August 2001, when about 1,500 detainees were pardoned by the president on the 10th anniversary of Moldova's independence.