VZCZCXRO0132
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHCH #0312 0800738
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 200738Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6454
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHISINAU 000312 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/IRF, DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KIRF PINR MD
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR GETS POSITIVE RESPONSE FROM MINISTER OF JUSTICE 
ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
 
REFS: A. Chisinau 0248, B. 07 Chisinau 0955 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michael D. Kirby, for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: In a March 19 meeting on religious freedom with the 
Minister of Justice, Ambassador Kirby received a positive response to 
our concerns, and promises that the Ministry would set up a 
roundtable with religious leaders and publish templates for 
registration procedures.  Pirlog frequently criticized the less 
inclusive and less democratic aspects of Moldovan society and 
bureaucracy, and praised the effects of the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation's Threshold Country Program on the judiciary.  End 
summary. 
 
Reformist Justice Minister Says Law to be Even Better 
-------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Minister of Justice Vitalie Pirlog is young (born in 1974) and 
open to reforms.  After a long string of Moldovan losses at the 
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning failure to execute 
judgments and violations of press freedom, he publicly criticized 
Moldovan courts for their faults, rather than rounding on the ECHR. 
Pirlog accepted the Ambassador's praise of the new religion law (Ref 
B) and its liberalization of access to public places and theoretical 
simplification of registration procedures.  He noted that the law had 
generally promoted religious liberty against the opposition of those 
in society and government who were "not inclusive," and promised 
further amendments to bring it closer to Western norms. 
 
¶3. (C) Responding to criticisms made to the Ambassador by religious 
leaders regarding difficulties in implementation of the law, Pirlog 
accepted that registration procedures, moved from the Ministry of 
Interior to the Ministry of Justice under provisions of the law, were 
difficult.  He cited the inexperience of his ministry in dealing with 
religious issues, the fact that the official in charge of 
registration was already in charge of registering NGOs and political 
organizations, and that some information had been lost in the 
transfer of files between the ministries.  Pirlog promised, however, 
that one of his deputy ministers would convene a meeting of religious 
leaders to discuss their complaints, and that his ministry would 
publish guidelines and templates for registration and incorporation, 
as it had already done for NGOs.  He also noted that his ministry was 
striving to make reasons for refusal of registration clear, and to 
assist those who were refused to reapply. 
 
¶4. (C) Pirlog showed that he had been thinking about the issue:  he 
noted that the Government of Moldova (GOM) had not thought through 
the special issues associated with religious organizations, which 
have in the past been slotted under the rubric of non-commercial 
organizations.  He agreed that the GOM needed to acknowledge the 
Ambassador's distinction between hierarchical churches, such at the 
Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and the more horizontally-organized 
Protestant churches.  Pirlog affirmed that all religions have a right 
to existence in Moldova, noting only that they should follow the law 
and respect the rights of their members. 
 
¶5. (C) Pirlog also showed himself willing to respond to issues of 
residence and work permits for foreign religious workers, even though 
they fall under the competence of the Ministry of Interior.  Told of 
a foreign Roman Catholic priest who had been threatened with 
expulsion because he was taking away jobs from Moldovans, he grimaced 
and said that the Ministry of Interior should set up a mechanism to 
eliminate such practices.  (Note:  the Roman Catholic Church hosts 
over 60 foreign priests and nuns to serve its 20,000 parishioners. 
Only three Moldovan citizens are ordained priests.  End note.)  Going 
further, he promised to set up a roundtable for all the ministries 
that are involved in residence and work permits, in order to push 
needed changes in "Soviet" mentality and behavior.  Expanding on his 
comment, he noted his pleasure that Moldova now has an ethics code 
for judges, and will establish one for police.  Pirlog stated that 
the publication of judicial decisions on the web, a reform instigated 
by Millennium Challenge Corporation's Threshold Country Program 
agreements, was already having a positive effect by educating judges. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment:  Throughout the conversation, Pirlog agreed that it 
was not in Moldova's interests for the Ambassador to have to act as 
the intermediary between religious leaders and the GOM, and accepted 
his responsibility to undertake the bureaucratic changes necessary to 
implement the reforms in the new law.  We look forward to the 
roundtable of religious leaders convened under his ministry's aegis, 
as a first step in moving ecumenism out of the Ambassador's residence 
(Ref A) and into public spaces and the corridors of Moldovan power. 
However, given the resignation of the entire Moldovan government on 
March 19, it is not yet clear that Pirlog will be in a position to 
carry out his promises. 
 
Kirby