On Tuesday, on the fifth day of the Constitutional Court (CC) hearing to examine the Government’s request for verification of the constitutionality of the “Shor” Political Party, the High Court judges admitted the Government’s lawyers’ request to attach and examine in public session the ZdG’s journalistic investigation “Protesters to Rent”, which uncovers how people who participated in the protests of the “Shor” Political Party were brought organized and subsequently paid.

The proposal that the ZdG investigation be accepted as evidence in the government’s case was made by the government’s lawyers.

“Video 4 (ZdG investigation “Protesters to rent”, presented by the Government in the CC meeting, ed.) comes to prove some circumstances in which the protests took place. It is based on a journalistic investigation, independent, not influenced by anyone, neither by the state, which basically reveals how these protests (of the Shor Party – ed.) were carried out. We are referring in particular to the way people are paid. From this video there is eloquent evidence, in which the circumstances of the payments for the protests, their organisation, the amounts of money given for the protests, that they vary from one party to another, are revealed. (The investigation – ed.) also shows that people go all day without a glass of water in protests, which contradicts other circumstances invoked by the parties. At the same time, there is talk of paying $200 per night and the condition would be that the person stays in the cold for two nights. (…) The Government’s conclusion in this regard is that they are trying to buy human dignity by using these anti-democratic instruments”, argued Government lawyer Eduard Digore.

“Who are these people, how were they acquitted, what is their name and surname, do they have any connection with the ‘Shor’ Party? There is no expertise or evidence. No one in this room can answer whether we can treat these videos as evidence related to party financing. We have seen nothing that would prove that the money came from the “Shor” Party,” said the vice-president of the “Shor” political party, Marina Tauber, who is currently under house arrest but was present at the meeting.

“What are the names and surnames of the people who paid money to the protesters? I am referring to the investigation of the Ziarul de Gardă that you presented before the High Court. The name and surname of the person, the time, under what circumstances the money was transferred and so on,” asked the lawyer of the “Sor” political party, Aureliu Colenco, to the government lawyer, Eduard Digore.

“This is a journalistic investigation and if you have any questions please kindly direct them to the author of the investigation,” responded attorney Digore.

“Because the Government representative has presented an investigation before the High Court and if this is evidence, we have to examine it in all aspects. If this evidence has been admitted and attached to the materials by the High Court, we are going to ask questions about this evidence and we want to find out who gave this money to the people in the video, because the Shor Political Party here is accused of allocating certain money,” said the lawyer of the Shor Political Party, Aureliu Colenco.

“Mr. lawyer (Eduard Digore – editor’s note) has explained his opinion on what he wants to prove, if you have a comment you can make it and that’s it, own assessments on this subject are not made”, replied to Aureliu Colenco lawyer the president of the CC, Nicolae Rosca.

Examination of the Government’s application postponed until 12 June

On Wednesday, 17 May, Nicolae Rosca, the President of the CC, announced a break in the session to examine the application for verification of the constitutionality of the “Shor” Party until 12 June. The break was announced after the lawyers of the Government and the “Shor” Party stated that they had no further additions to the materials of the case examined by the High Court. “The CC plenary announces a break until June 12, 2023, 10:00 am, for the preparation and presentation of pleadings before the Constitutional Court. Today’s sitting is declared closed”, announced Nicolae Rosca, President of the CC.

In November 2022, the representatives of the Executive submitted to the CC a petition for verification of the constitutionality of the political party “Shor”. According to the petition “through all its activities so far, the “Șor” Party has acted in contradiction with the principles of the rule of law and endangers the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova”.

“The “Shor” Political Party has not incited the use of violence with the aim of changing the constitutional order. The Political Party “Shor” has not presented and does not present a danger to democracy in Moldova. The fact that the “Sor” Political Party, by constantly informing society about the misdeeds of all governments, represents a danger to the parties that have been in government, cannot be classified as a danger to democracy. (…) The author of the complaint has not demonstrated what is the extreme situation and what is the exceptional case for declaring the party unconstitutional”, says Vadim Bănaru, one of the lawyers of the Shor Party.

“Protesters to rent”. Or how ZdG reporters received money for participating in Shor Party protests

In September 2022, four Ziarul de Gardă reporters infiltrated the ranks of the Shor Party protesters on the eve of the September 18 rally in Chisinau. They set off with the protesters from several locations in Orhei, which they found in advance, and then for several days documented from the inside how they were mobilized, transported organized and paid to demonstrate their “civic attitude”.

Three of the reporters, a few days after taking part in the protest, were paid 400 lei each by the people responsible for recruiting the protesters, the so-called “patratiste”. The money was received in various locations in Orhei and the whole process was filmed and documented by ZdG.