Moldova’s diverse and multi-lingual media face multiple challenges, including restrictions based on vague national legislation, penalties that are unwarranted and fail to follow due process, harassment, as well as direct reporting restrictions in Russian-occupied Transnistria, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.
The report, Media freedom in Moldova: Fragility, undue restrictions and self-censorship in the face of polarized politics, documents the risks to media due to measures taken by the Moldovan authorities, including the introduction and abuse of emergency powers, particularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It shows how the authorities have resorted to the suspension of broadcasting licenses without transparency or judicial oversight to counter the spread of Russia-originated disinformation and misinformation and alleged Russian attempts to illegally sway Moldova’s politics, underlined by the Russian war of aggression in neighbouring Ukraine.
“The Moldovan authorities argue that such measures are a necessary response to the country’s security needs. Yet, this response to external threats fails to comply with the requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality. It puts independent journalism and freedom of expression itself at risk,” said Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova.
“In government-controlled Moldova, these emergency measures alongside a lack of protection against harassment and vague legislation, have led to self-censorship even among some pro-European media. Elsewhere, the situation is plainly dire. The authorities must not put fundamental freedoms at risk.
“Moldova’s authorities must protect media freedom and develop media regulations in consultation with media and civil society, not seek to control the country’s information space through controversial legislation and extrajudicial punitive measures.”
Moldova’s authorities must protect media freedom and develop media regulations in consultation with media and civil society, not seek to control the country’s information space through controversial legislation and extrajudicial punitive measures
Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova
Introduction of new controversial legislation and sanctions for media
Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova’s parliament imposed a new state of emergency which granted the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES), a non-judicial authority, the powers to introduce new media regulations and impose sanctions on media for breaking them. Before the state of emergency expired, the CES suspended the broadcasting licenses of 12 TV channels, and blocked access to dozens of websites, in response to alleged media-related threats from Russia.
The CES’s non-judicial powers expired at the same time as the state of emergency, on 30 December 2023, only to be transferred to the Council for the Promotion of Investment Projects of National Importance (CPIPNI), under swiftly passed legislation which, absurdly, purported to ensure “integrity and functionality of the electricity market.” The CPIPNI has de-licensed without due process guarantees, permanently or temporarily, at least 18 TV and radio channels, for either belonging to physical and legal persons of interest to the security services or merely suspected of belonging to such persons due to opaque ownership arrangements.
Apart from swiftly passing controversial new laws, the government continues to rely on earlier, overly restrictive and vaguely worded legislation, which prohibits dissemination of disinformation, without clearly defining the term, and retransmission of “audiovisual television and radio programmes with informative, informative-analytical, military and political content” produced outside of a limited list of countries, which manifestly excludes Russia.
Journalists from the affected media outlets complained to Amnesty International that the authorities disallowed coverage of certain topics, like the Russian authorities’ position on the Russian war against Ukraine, from an alternative – that the authorities would understand as pro-Russian – point of view.
A high-ranking Moldovan official argued that de-licensing media outlets outside of a judicial process was a “war-time measure” needed in response to media-related threats posed by Russia, compounded by the challenges posed by the “dysfunctionality” and slowness of the courts in Moldova.
For affected media, the only option is to challenge the penalties after they are applied. Six of the TV channels delicensed by the CES challenged the decision in court. The judge upheld the penalty in a ruling based solely on a review of procedural compliance, and not the lawfulness of the CES’s decision with regards to its compliance with Moldova’s international human rights obligations.
“When the government decides it can bypass judicial oversight when applying penalties as severe as media de-licensing, and rushes through legislation which ‘legalizes’ this approach, it harms all Moldova’s media and undermines human rights. It leads to self-censorship, stifles free expression and obstructs access to legal remedies. Such measures directly contravene international human rights law, and must be promptly reversed,” said Veaceslav Tofan.
When the government decides it can bypass judicial oversight when applying penalties as severe as media de-licensing, and rushes through legislation which ‘legalizes’ this approach, it harms all Moldova’s media and undermines human rights
Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova
Harassment of journalists in Gagauzia and suppression of freedom of expression in Transnistria
The challenges faced by media are even more visible in Moldova’s regions. In the autonomous region of Gagauzia, journalists from media outlets that criticize regional authorities complain of harassment and obstruction. A journalist who worked for the regional public broadcaster felt compelled to resign from her job after publishing an article presenting an alternative view to that of local leaders on gas supplies from Russia.
In the Russian-occupied region of Transnistria, freedom of expression is virtually non-existent, with local legislation criminalizing the “insult” of officials, criticism or “distortion” of “the positive peacekeeping role” of Russian troops, as well as “rehabilitation of Nazism” and “dissemination of deliberately false information” about the USSR’s activities during World War II. Journalists from the government-controlled territory of Moldova are regarded as “foreign,” and cannot work freely in Transnistria.
Amnesty International calls on the Moldovan authorities to revise all media-related legislation in line with international standards, end the misuse of legislation against journalists and broadcasters, and ensure that all restrictions and sanctions against media are subject to independent judicial review. The organisation also urges the authorities to protect journalists from harassment and violence, including online threats, and to guarantee the human right to freedom of expression across the entire territory of Moldova, including Gagauzia and Transnistria.
