Media organizations ask the border police for explanations in connection with the censorship of information of a foreign journalist at Chisinau Airport

Ilya Azar, special correspondent of Meduza.io with headquarters in Riga, wrote on September 9, 2015 in a social network that upon returning from Moldova, before taking his flight to Moscow, he was stopped by the airport’s passport service and demanded to say who he met in Chisinau and what information he has on his computer. According to the journalist, the border police did not allow him to make a phone call and threatened they would detain him if he refused to present the requested information.

We are concerned with this event and qualify it as abuse against a media representative. We are asking the border police to investigate the case and to explain how it was possible for a journalist’ information to be verified upon leaving the country. It is an act of censorship that violates fundamental rights and freedoms of journalists. It is sad that it happens in a country that aspires to democracy.
 
We are also appealing to the border police to show respect to the representatives of international mass media visiting Moldova these days and not to treat journalists as possible criminals as long as there is no evidence to the contrary. We are demanding the professional status and right to free expression of journalists to be respected.

Independent Journalism Center
Association of Independent Press
“Acces-Info” Center
Association of Independent TV Journalists
Committee for Press Freedom