Amnesty International Moldova: “The “Espionage Law” might allow infringing on the Fundamental Right of Freedom and Privacy in Moldova”

On Friday, April 8, Amnesty International Moldova (AIM) issued a press release, pointing at the fact that the draft law approved by the Government on March 30, 2016, which AIM called the “Espionage Law,” might allow, in some situations, “infringement on the fundamental right of freedom and privacy in Moldova.” “The guarantees of the “Espionage Law” must be reviewed, and it is necessary to institute a clear and transparent mechanism for all,” the press release says.

In this sense, AIM proposed the new article 130-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in item (7), “to describe in detail the mechanism of protection of personal data that are copied from confiscated objects; storage methods, technical security measures, and the information copied to be regulated in as much detail and as transparently as possible.” The law should stipulate “all details about electronic search that are necessary to protect the fundamental right of persons to privacy, for a long term, versus a short period (item 8 of article 130-1 of the Code). Also, according to AIM, “the law should stipulate situations of leakage of the data collected and how to protect them.”

“We find it essential that the law, in its current version, be fundamentally reviewed so that it could become an instrument for criminal investigation, according to all standards and requirements of the EU, and not an instrument for possible blackmail of people, mass media, or other actors that are disliked by the government,” the AIM press release says.

It should be noted that a year ago the main media organizations – the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, and the Association of Electronic Press – proposed, among other things, to exclude provisions allowing criminal investigation authorities to search servers. “There is a risk that many media websites could be closed if they are disliked by certain leaders,” the signatories of the appeal said, but their suggestions were not taken into consideration by the authors of the draft law.