Civil Society: the Gaps Existing in the Legislation on Personal Data Restrict the Access to Information and the Freedom of Expression

A number of non-governmental organizations working in the field of the mass-media and human rights warn about the intensification of the cases of pressure exerted on journalists – in particular, on the investigative journalists. The announcement was made at a press conference on “The alarming pressure on the journalists in the Republic of Moldova: from brutalisation and intimidation to criminal suit”, held on Tuesday, 24^th of January, this year.

The action took place in the context of the investigation by the prosecutors of the journalist Mariana Rata, who wrote an article about the former police commissioner of Chisinau municipality, Vladimir Botnari. The latter alleges that the journalist accessed and disseminated, without his consent, personal data related to himself and his family members.

According to civil society representatives, this case - which is far from being singular - is a case of intimidation of the journalists and of limiting their access to information. At the same time, the experts in law point out that the legislation related to personal data has many gaps and, as a result, it somehow contravenes the laws on access to information and on the freedom of expression. In this context, the legal experts emphasised that the name of a public official or the information about his/her property are not personal data.

“The case under consideration depicts very well the state of affairs in the society, namely the reluctance of the authorities to any form of journalists’ professional undertaking. Or, we have seen for a long time that the investigative journalism has been subject to attacks”, Nadejda Hriptievschi from the Legal Resources Centre stated. “More and more frequently, we notice a very odious interpretation of the legal provisions”, she added.

In the same vein, Galina Bostan, president of the Centre for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, stated that this segment of the legislation is increasingly becoming a tool to protect not the citizen, but the corrupt officials. In her opinion, “if the intimidation of journalists and the promotion of legislative initiatives intended to extend the protection of personal data continue, that might imply the “burial” of the investigative journalism, one of the most effective anti-corruption instruments that can exist in a society”.

The journalists who attended the event expressed their conviction of the fact that they are entitled to write about the property of public servants, as long as the citizens have the right to be informed. According to Alina Radu, director of “Ziarul de Garda” weekly newspaper, it is strange that the prosecutor has summoned just Mariana Rata, not also the reporter of “Ziarul de Garda” who made the investigation about the former commissioner and whom Mariana Rata referenced in fact. “Every month, we have to go to court to explain again and again that we published the challenged article, because it is of public interest ...”, Alina Radu pointed out.
 
As a result of restricting the access to information, the number of investigative articles decreases, what proves once more that the Law on the protection of personal data poses a problem. Such an opinion was formulated by Nadine Gogu, Executive Director of the Independent Journalism Center. “We consider that we need to intervene in this law in order to improve it for the benefit of the society, so that not to cumber the work of the journalists, because of the provisions that implicitly refer to the freedom of expression, to the link between the protection of personal data and the freedom of expression”, Nadine Gogu said.

Petru Macovei, Executive Director of the Independent Press Association, shared the same viewpoint and emphasised “the lack of any response of the authorities to this and other serious cases that have occurred”. “Now, we may affirm that the access to information is blocked, as all the achievements scored over the past years in terms of access to public interest information have in fact been blocked for almost two years”, he concluded.

In the coming weeks, a range of actions will be organised to support the journalists who, as a result of the limited access to information of public interest, have limited possibilities to perform their job honestly. The first event will be held on 31^st of January - a public debate on the weaknesses of the Law on the protection of personal data and on the laws related to access to information. Representatives of the media, of the Parliament and of the Government of the Republic of Moldova will be invited to the event.

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