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The media expert: " NM journalist's withdrawal of accreditation by the Parliament's security guards is an abuse"

22 July 2016
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The officers of the Security Service of the Parliament  withdrew the accreditation of the journalist Galina Vasilieva  from the site newsmaker.md on Thursday, July 21 because she overcame the barrier of the specially designed space for the press from institution to ask for a statement the speaker Andrian Candu. The representatives of the Parliament say that the accreditation was taken till Friday, July, 22 when the Permanent Office decided that a warning can be applied.
 
According to the regulations of the Parliament, the journalists have access in the plenary hall only in the specially designed space for press. At the same time, they can ask the deputies questions when they usually come in front of the press to make statements.
 
According to the journalist's arguments, posted on the newsmaker.md site, more often the journalists can't obtain a statement from the elected officials because some of them don't appear in front of the press.
 
The NM journalist's withdrawal of accreditation by the Parliament's security guards is an abuse and attack on the freedom of press and is contrary to the provisions of the Regulations regarding the accreditation of the media representatives besides the Parliament. This is the opinion of the media expert Dumitru Lazur.
"The Regulations at issue establish clearly the conditions when the journalist's accreditation can be withdrawn. Section 19 provides that the Permanent Office at the proposal of the  Department for Media Relations has the right to withdraw the accreditation for deeds which prevent the normal activity of the Parliament (provocative behaviour, refusal to comply to the rules of conduct or safety, indecent clothing etc.). In addition, the section 20 of the Regulations says that the withdrawal of accreditation with rigorous arguments is communicated by the Department for Media Relations. Thus, the security guards didn't have any legal right  to withdraw the accreditation of the NM journalist", explained Dumitru Lazur.
 
According to the head of the Press Release Office from the Parliament, Svetlana Ursu, on Thursday July 21  the security officers  didn't withdraw permanently the journalist's accreditation, but only withdraw it till a decision of the office." There is a regulation which provides both the rights and the obligations of the journalists. In this case, Galina Vasilieva went down to the space for MPs and approached more deputies, which is a violation of this regulation. The information was sent by the Permanent Office which decided today, July, 22 to send an informative note to the news site and return the journalist's accreditation", communicated Svetlana Ursu for Media Azi.

Sursa foto: ww.ajm.md