Viorica Tataru

Affiliated media: TV8 , Journalist

Incident date: January 24, 2024

Attack type:

• Interrogation

Who attacked: Other country authorities

Source: Safety of Journalists Platform

Location: Moldova, Tiraspol

Additional information:

Viorica Tataru, a journalist working for the broadcaster TV8, and the cameraman Andrei Captarenco were detained in Tiraspol on 24 January 2024, while reporting from a protest organised by the separatist authorities in the Transnistrian region against recent changes to customs rules, taxing exports from the region. The crew was approached by a group of unidentified persons in uniform from the so-called "law-enforcement" structures from the left bank of the river Nistru, were forcibly detained and transported to the “Ministry of Security” in Tiraspol. Shortly after the arrest, the government of the Republic of Moldova sent Tiraspol a notice requesting immediate release and safe return home. Both media workers were released the same day. According to a statement by the journalists, they were detained and interrogated separately for close to three hours and then forced to delete footage from the protest.