A law against freedom of expression

Apparently not. As an example, I will present the case Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa is a belief rendered official in Moldova by two public associations - a local one, registered by the Chisinau Mayoralty and a state association, registered by the Ministry of Justice. Shortly after its creation in late 2012, another public association - “Invalids and Veterans Rights Protection Society – Equity”, couldn’t find other activities to do in the interest of its declared beneficiaries than filing two lawsuits against Falun Dafa associations. In the first trial, also filed against the Ministry of Justice, “Equity” asked the court to include the "falun" symbol in the Register of extremist materials, which is kept by the Ministry of Justice under the Law on Combating Extremist Activity. In the second trial, relying on the same law, “Equity” requested that Falun Dafa organizations be dissolved.

It is not a matter of exception that everyone has the right to go to court, if before the date of writing this article, the associations wouldn’t have lost both cases it first instance and in the Court of Appeal (the first in April 2, 2014 and the second in July 15, 2014). They still wait for the verdict of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Moldova.

But the most important context we want emphasize is that all four judicial decisions issued so far against Falun Dafa Associations are based solely on the fact that the symbol "Falun" is quite similar to the "Swastika" symbol and respectively, its use would affect the interests of Moldovan citizens, including war veterans. The symbol "Falun" is allegedly quite similar to the "Swastika" symbol and it falls into the "extremist activity" under the Law on Combating Extremist Activity, and this in turn generates two different resolutions with different but complementary consequences: on the one hand, in the first trial, the Ministry of Justice was ordered to include the "falun" symbol in the Register of extremist materials, and on the other hand, in the second trial, it was ordered to dissolve “Falun Dafa” associations and “Falun Gong Moldova” a Qigong Association; a liquidator was appointed in this respect. 

 This happens in Moldova in 2014: at the request of a young private entity two other entities are dissolved for alleged extremist activity without any evidence such as calls to violence or public disorder, without any conviction or even criminal proceedings against members of these organizations, without any irregularity reported by those who have registered the organizations, i.e. the Ministry of Justice and the Chisinau Mayoralty, without any tangible evidence that would indicate damage to the public interest!

Just because these organizations used the symbol of their school in some publications or icon they distribute, they have been declared extremist. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice showed solidarity with the sued organizations and attacked the judicial decisions on including the symbol of "falun" in the Register of extremist materials. The representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Moldova, Mr. Claude Cahn stated his public position in the amicus curiae sent to the party concerned, in which he said:
“Prohibiting the use of the symbol of "falun" just because it resembles the "swastika" is not necessary and does not correspond to a pressing social need in a democratic society. The symbol was not used to incite to hatred or violence, and such prohibition is contrary to international standards on freedom of expression. Therefore, the prohibition to use this symbol in the current context seems to be clearly illegal."

In our opinion, the Law on Combating Extremist Activity should be repealed. Things that really are bad are already sanctioned by criminal penalties. As civil law it is not relevant or necessary. There are other laws that properly govern what is allowed and what is forbidden. With regard to freedom of expression, it is the Law on freedom of expression[2].