First statement by former Deputy Petrenko after arrest: Plahotniuc can’t break us!
Former MP and honorary member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Grigory Petrenko*, who was arrested during an anti-oligarchy protest in Chisinau on Sunday, September 6, made his first statement to the press.
The politician described his detention as “a political order.”
“I think this is a political order. This is an attack by [pro-Western oligarch Vladimir] Plahotniuc on inconvenient people, the opposition within the opposition, which is still fighting the regime. But I want to tell them that they did not succeed. They can’t break us,” Petrenko said on Monday, September 7, as he was taken to the Forensic Centre to document the beating that occurred during his detention.
Grigory Petrenko, former MP, honorary member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and a leader of protests against the oligarchs in Moldova, was detained by police for 72 hours on Sunday, September 6, after a protest in front of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the announcement of plans to hold a peaceful rally in front of “the prosecutor’s office seized by oligarch Plahotniuc.”
Seven other people were also detained, according to police, including protesters, activists, and former political prisoners of the ruling regime in Moldova, Mikhail Amerberg, Pavel Grigorchuk and Alexander Roshko.
On Sunday, September 6, Chisinau was engulfed in anti-oligarchic protests, which were held in the capital with the participation of more than a hundred thousand people. A group of protesters led by Grigory Petrenko was arrested by police after a protest at the General Prosecutor’s Office with the intention to set up tents in front of the state institution for a peaceful non-stop protest.
Recall that media holdings affiliated with oligarch Plahotniuc, which consist of Publika TV, Prime and Canal 3, aired in recent weeks a series of libelous, defamatory materials against Grigory Petrenko, known for his harsh criticism of the regime of oligarchs. Many so-called experts” and “political analysts” urged the arrest of Grigory Petrenko after he demanded the liberation of the country from the dictatorship of oligarch Plahotniuc.
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