Five people, including three policemen, detained in case of youth death in Chisinau

Chisinau, 04 September /MOLDPRES/ – Five people, including three policemen and two detainees, were detained by the lawyers in the case of citizen Andrei Braguta, deceased under suspicious circumstances. The announcement was made by General Prosecutor, Eduard Harunjen, at a press conference today.  

According to the quoted source, the lawmakers who were detained are those who worked on the night that Braguta was brought to the police, but while the man was subjected to ill-treatment by detainees, they did not act. All detained persons are in the isolation of the National Anticorruption Centre (CNA). Similarly, the prosecutor announced that in this case, two more detainees, already released, are suspected.

The representatives of the law enforcement authorities said on 03 September that a criminal case for torture was initiated. "We still have investigations, including inhuman and degrading treatment, until the time of death. According to the preliminary findings of the Centre of Legal Medicine (CML), the death occurred due to a purulent bronchopneumonia, we are now about to determine if the actions of those who were detained are directly related to the worsening of the state of health," said the head of the Section of Combating Torture of the General Prosecutor’s Office, Ion Caracuian.

According to prosecutors, for an hour and a half Andrei Braguta was beaten with hands and feet in different parts of the body, including chest, head and lower limbs. "Mr. Braguţa would be beaten in the cell door for help, but the guards would have made only a few observations, then others from other detainees who heard shouting, but again no action was taken. We are going to examine the actions of other decision-makers in the penitentiary system, medical institutions, magistrates and prosecutors, and then we will decide if we can make a criminal qualification. If the consent of the close can be offered, exhumation of the corpse for further investigation can also take place," said Caracuian.

Andrei Braguta, aged 31, died on 26 August in suspicious conditions in the penitentiary after he was detained for exceeding the speed limit. Authorities say the cause of death is pneumonia and his relatives claim that the man died after being beaten.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Raileanu)