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According to the cameraman, he decided to contact these institutions after the editorial office had made several attempts to clarify with Sergei Buzurnii what had happened, but the election candidate refused to talk to the journalists. Moreover, following BTV channel’s broadcast of the material about the incident, the journalists said they had expected an answer from the law enforcement bodies and as it did not follow, they decided to go to the police themselves.
As regards the incident, Eugen Gumeniuc claims that on 15 February, approximately after 4 p.m., he was at Sadovoe Mayoralty, filming the electoral advertising hanging in the windows of the institution, calling to vote for Buzurnii. While he was filming, the mayor’s car approached the Mayoralty. Somebody opened the door, but no one came out. After changing his shooting place, Gumeniuc said he looked around and noticed that there was enough space between him and the parked car. Within a few minutes, he felt the car pushed him from behind and he was loosing his balance. At that point, the car left the scene.
Contacted by Media-azi.md, Serghei Buzurnii initially hung up on us. Contacted for the second time, he told us that these were just speculations and instigations and hung up on us.
On 15 February, Sergey Buzurnii published on his Facebook page pictures of BTV’s shooting team in Sadovoe, accompanied by Ghenadie Smulski, the Vice-Mayor of Balti, representing ‘Partidul Nostru’ Political Party. Sergei Buzurnii avoided commenting on the incident in which the cameraman was assaulted and intimidated with the car, but claimed that this was a harassment from the press affiliated to ‘Partidul Nostru’.
Media NGOs condemned the acts of assault and intimidation against the cameraman from BTV and requested the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to initiate appropriate investigation on the basis of Criminal Code, and to make its results public.
