Moldovan Constitutional Court becomes target of smear campaign

Moldova’s Constitutional Court is accusing the media of launching a campaign to discredit it and is urging the authorities to stop it.

This follows the court’s ruling that overturned the controversial presidential decree establishing June 28 as the day of Soviet occupation.

Local journalists, both from print media and the main television channels have taken pictures of Constitutional Court employees having a picnic on the day following the ruling. The media note that the court staff used service cars for going out.

“Some media dubbed this ‘a constitutional picnic’ to celebrate the decision taken the day before. In reality the staff stopped to have lunch after a trip to a monastery, and the transport was paid for using the trade unions’ budget,” the document states.

The court has outlined that the accusations have been ongoing for two weeks already, but “have not prompted any reaction from the authorities.”

“We believe someone is interested in discrediting the only constitutional legal body in Moldova,” the document says.

The court says the campaign also involves the creation of an animation film depicting “the constitutional picnic”, collective and individual statements demanding dismissal of constitutional judges, threatening phone calls and inscriptions on the court building.

The document also says that the court has seen “either criticism or applause coming both from the authorities and the opposition since its foundation.”