The community of investigative journalists Rise Moldova was awarded the Pavel Sheremet 2019 award “for courage in journalism and outstanding achievements in the cause of media freedom in the EaP region”. This award was granted by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and will be officially presented at the General Assembly on December 4-6 in Brussels.
Ion Preasca, Rise Moldova journalist and co-author of the journalistic investigations on oligarchy and state surveillance in Moldova said that the “Pavel Sheremet” Award is recognition of the difficult work done by the Rise Moldova team and confirms that it was not futile”.
„We have already seen the impact of the investigation at the national level and now we get international recognition. Moldova is now at a crossroads. Some things changed after our investigation such as the 5th Division of the National Investigation Inspectorate was closed down, criminal charges were filed against the prosecutors and judges involved in the surveillance cases. Still, only the instrument was punished, while those who ordered the surveillance must be yet revealed. I don’t think the prosecutors or judges involved were making decisions on their own. Currently, this topic of surveillance is used in the political struggle between the political parties. The political forces should seek mechanisms to stop such illegalities of ever happening again, and not use this subject for the purpose of obtaining political gains. We do our job as journalists and we want politicians who want to push our countries towards democracy to also do their job. We want them to implement reforms for the benefit of our citizens and for the benefit of political interests. Otherwise, we are in danger of transforming into a supervised and controlled state. We hope a lot that the EU institutions will press Moldova and other EaP countries to implement appropriate reforms in the field”, said Preasca.
The winning “Ministry of Interceptions” investigation is available at this link .
