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In an interview for Radio Free Europe journalist Ernest Vardanyan expressed regret that Sergei Ilicenco ended up behind bars because of his attitude towards the Transnistrian authorities.
"The same happened to me, five years ago. I must say though that he had attempted to denigrate the power of Evghenii Sevciuk many more times - be it with evidence at hand or without any evidence; anyway, he repeatedly sparked the tough response of the Transnistrian administration", said Vardanyan, adding that "freedom of speech means tolerance of any administration towards the journalists expressing their views, even if they that differ from the official position of the government concerned".
In the same interview Ernest Vardanyan expressed concern about the fact that since 2013 a number of online fora had been shut down and there was virtually no one left who would criticize the pseudo-administration in Tiraspol. "What Evghenii Sevciuk is doing now in Transnistria is unheard of - he specifically targets the Internet!" added Mr. Vardanyan.
It is worthwhile reminding that the Association Promo-Lex, an organization that monitors human rights violations in the region, qualified the detention of the Transnistrian journalist as illegal. Promo-Lex believes that charges of "extremism" may be brought by the Tiraspol administration to anyone, to penalize him for using his right to opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly etc.
According to a press release distributed by the so-called Committee for State Security of the Transnistrian region, journalist and social activist Sergei Ilicenko was arrested last week on charges of "public appeals and extremist activity".
