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The Chisinau Court found inadmissible TV8’s action against the BC in the case of the Internetu’ Grăiește [Internet Speaking] program targeting Elena Pahomova

23 September 2020
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The Riscani office of Chisinau Court found inadmissible the action of the TV8 station representatives against the Broadcasting Council (BC) regarding the cancellation of the penalty applied after the broadcast of the Internetu’ Grăiește [Internet Speaking] program, which targeted the journalist Elena Pahomova.  The station was also fined for not having subsequently announced the penalty on air. The station’s administration challenged the BC’s decisions, arguing that it had not properly examined the case.
 
In a pronouncement on September 15, judge Viorica Dodon found inadmissible the action brought by TV8 on the ground that the application “was filed in court without following the prior procedure established by law.” The judge also noted that an action being declared inadmissible “does not exclude the possibility for the same plaintiff to repeatedly bring the same action to court.”
 
The document issued by the Court states that, by a pronouncement of the Chisinau Court of July 20, 2020, TV8 was given 5 days to remove gaps, namely, to indicate data on compliance with the prior procedure and to attach to the claim a copy of the decision on preliminary application. At the same time, according to the document, the preliminary application was sent to the Council after the action was submitted to court.
 
At the end of May, TV8 was fined 10,000 lei after it broadcast an edition of the Internetu’ Grăiește [Internet Speaking] program, made by Andrei Bolocan and Nata Albot, where the authors made references to a post by Elena Pahomova from NTV Moldova on her Facebook page. The program sparked the journalist’s discontent. Both she and the station she works for addressed a notification to the BC.
 
Subsequently, the Council applied a penalty of 5,000 lei to the TV8 station for failing to inform the public that it had been fined for broadcasting the program in question. The BC rejected the application to suspend the execution of decisions and extended the term for examining the preliminary application on this case.
 
UPDATE: Vitalie Enache, TV8 representative in court, told Media Azi that the station will file an appeal against the judgment.