CHISINAU, May 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Moldova’s authorities on Thursday deported a well-known Finnish human rights activist, chairman of the Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee Johan Backman, who took part in an international scientific conference “Federal state: international experience and Moldova’s prospects” in the capital Chisinau.
The forum’s organizer, chairman of the Socialist Party Igor Dodon, told Itar-Tass that during his trip, Backman visited the Gagauz Autonomy as well as Transdniestria, an unrecognized republic that has been de facto independent from Moldova since the early 1990s.
“Today, when the rights advocate was returning from the unrecognized republic, he was arrested without any reasons given. The only accusation I heard was that Backman’s activity allegedly presented a threat to national security,” Dodon said.
“After that, he was immediately deported from the country by a Chisinau-Moscow flight and banned from entering Moldova for five years,” he said.
Dodon said the detention was made with numerous violations, and the conference organizers now plan to file a lawsuit with a court. “Are these the European values that our country follows?” the politician said.
The conference was also attended by representatives of scientific and public circles of Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and other countries.