20 April 2010, 23:00
Armenian journalist arrested in Transdniestria
A journalist from Armenia Ernest Vardanyan is in custody in Tiraspol, the capital of the Transdniestrian Moldavian Republic. He is accused of high treason and espionage in favour of Moldova. These charges assume from 12 to 20 years of imprisonment.
Mr Vardanyan was arrested in Tiraspol on April 7, and on April 9 the Tiraspol City Court at its session held in closed mode extended his custody by two more months, the RIA "Dnestr" reports.
Every day Vardanyan went from Tiraspol by bus to Kishinev where he worked. "He was one of the few journalists living in Transdniestria and fearlessly criticized the local authorities, and at the same time he never broke the rules of journalistic ethics," said Rado Benea, a correspondent of the Moldavian Service of Radio Liberty, who had made dozens of interviews with Ernest Vardanyan about the situation in Transdniestria.
The government of Moldova, as well as a number of human rights and journalistic organizations, including the "Journalists Without Borders", condemned Vardanyan's arrest, as reported by the Deutsche Welle Radio.
Vardanyan's compatriots in Armenia and USA have set up initiative groups in his defence and sent appeals to Transdniestria authorities demanding his release, the "New Region" reports.
