BRUSSELS, April 29, 2006  –  News that the mayor of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, has turned down a request for a demonstration outside the Parliament building has drawn criticism from the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe (ILGA-Europe).

“We are seriously concerned with the decision of the Chisinau Mayor to deny LGBT people a right to assembly,” commented Deborah Lambillotte, co-chair of ILGA-Europe executive board.

“We would like to remind the Chisinau city authorities about Article 40 of the Moldovan Constitution which guarantees everyone a right to peaceful demonstration,” she added.

The demonstration, which was also refused last year, was to be held on May 5 as part of the city’s fifth Gay Pride Festival.

In its condemnation of the Chisinau refusal, ILGA-Europe calls upon the Moldovan capital’s mayor to immediately reconsider his decision and urges the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to intervene and upheld the right to assembly for the Moldovan LGBT people.

Instances of denying or hindering LGBT people the right to assemble and demonstrate by the municipal authorities have occurred during the last couple of years also in other European countries and gay men and women in those countries have experienced violence, threats and appalling expressions of hate during the marches and demonstrations.

These breaches of basic human right to free assembly and homophobic attitudes were condemned by the European Parliament’s Resolution on Homophobia in Europe earlier this year.

“We also want to stress that such arguments against LGBT demonstration as religious objections and plans for counter-demonstrations cannot legitimise serious breach of a right to assembly as confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights, Ms Lambillotte said.

“We also hope that the European organisations and institutions will express their outrage by such lawless actions of the Chisinau Mayor.”

The demonstration and Pride has been organised by the Information Centre GenderDoc-M, which has already appealed the decision of interim city mayor, Vasile Ursu, to the Court of Appeal.

In the rejection letter to GenderDoc-M, Vasile Ursu said that the decision was made in order to avoid public disorder with serious consequences for society.

“Based […] on the statements of religious organizations that they will organize protest actions if the demonstration organized by GenderDoc-M is allowed, and also based on letters of complaint from individuals living in Chisinau and registered in the city, which also say that protest actions will be organized, […] the demonstration in the form of a solidarity march, planned by Information Center “GenderDoc-M” for 5 May 2006, will not be authorized”, the official letter from the interim mayor said.

In a statement, GenderDoc-M said it considers these arguments irrelevant and developed for the sole purpose of justifying the refusal to authorize the demonstration.

“The refusal violates the basic human rights of freedom of expression and assembly guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, a spokesperson said yesterday.  “The decision of the city authorities undermines the Moldovan authorities’ commitments under the EU-Moldova Action Plan, which include the adoption of anti-discrimination legislation in line with European standards.”

Despite the setback, the fifth Moldovan Pride – “Rainbow over the Nistru – 2006” – will go ahead as planned next week.  And organisers stress that all the events will be organized in a peaceful manner.

The Pride programme includes a movie week, an international conference on anti-discrimination issues, a football match between lesbian teams, legislative theatre and concerts, etc. overseas visitors are expected from Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium.

Moldova Pride gets underway on May 4 with a screening of “Brokeback Mountain” as part of the official opening at the Restaurant Sanatate