Death of Valeriu Boboc

Valeriu Boboc (5 May 1985 – 8 April 2009) was a protester who died in police custody amid the post-election protests in Chișinău, Moldova.

The initial official cause was Smoke poisoning from the riot, but his family insisted that he was beaten to death by the police, his body being full of contusions.

He was born on May 5, 1985, in Bubuieci (a Chișinău suburban community), to Victor Boboc, a history teacher and Ala Boboc, a Romanian language teacher.

But the poverty has radically changed the situation in his family, his father working as taxi driver and his mother, Ala Boboc, became unemployed.

Valeriu Boboc graduated from "Miguel de Cervantes" High School Chișinău and attended International Relations Institute of Moldova for one year.

He left university because he didn't have three thousand lei to pay the study contract.

Looking to find a better paid work, he tried to leave for Russia, but failed.

He worked at a car wash, a car service and then sold belts at market.

In the same place was selling clothes Natalia, whom he married in 2007.

Valeriu Boboc lived in an apartment in Bubuieci, with his wife, his child Dragoș (born July 30, 2007), his brother Marcel and parents.

Some claim he was known at local city police stations as a passive addict and a hooligan.

According to 2009 Human Rights Report of the United States Department of State, a British forensics expert examined Boboc's body after it was exhumed on June 15, 2009, and concluded that Boboc was killed by severe blows to his head.

Only after a new ruling coalition came to power, an investigation was opened into the case and a policeman was arrested on charges of Boboc's murder.

Valeriu Boboc was posthumously decorated, by a presidential decree, with Moldova's highest state decoration – the Order of the Republic.

"April 7 events opened the way of Moldova to Europe and Boboc became a symbol of struggle for democratic values and freedom of expression."

After the results of the April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election were announced, he was a peaceful participant at the protest.

Boboc arrived in the Square after 5.00 p.m., when the presidential and parliament buildings were being ravaged.

Following his arrest, Valeriu Boboc died in a Chișinău hospital on 8 April 2009.

Boboc was pronounced dead in the early hours of April 8 at a Chisinau hospital.

The official cause of death was given as inhalation of poisonous gas.

His case was reopened after the current ruling coalition won elections in July.

The police declared he died of Smoke inhalation from the riot, but his family claims that he was beaten to death by the police, his body being full of contusions.

Valeriu Boboc was killed intentionally, said Valeriu Pleșca, the lawyer of the family of Boboc.

According to a witness who witnessed the death of Valeriu Boboc, "On the night of April 8, Valeriu Boboc and other men were peacefully sitting near the Triumph Arch in Chisinau's downtown, watching the events on the Great National Assembly Square. Suddenly we were surrounded by 50 armed policemen. The police ordered us to lay on the ground and started to beat us with clubs, legs and weapons," the lawyer read out from the witness's testimonies.

The lawyer of the family of Boboc Valeriu Pleșca was called to lay testimonies on June 1, 2009.

Damian Hancu, the man who witnessed the death of Valeriu Boboc, declared he could identify the policemen who beat him and Boboc.

"It was around 2 AM. We've heard an information on the radio that someone had found a person with a bullet wound in the Cathedral Square. That was the initial version regarding Valeriu Boboc's death", declared former vice-minister of Internal Affairs, Ghenadie Coșovan.

He was surprised about the first declarations made by former minister of Health Larisa Catrinici, that Valeriu Boboc has died due to intoxication, said Ghenadie Coșovan.

The body of Valeriu Boboc was handed to the relatives by the police on April 12 and was buried on the same day.

Dorin Chirtoacă, the mayor of Chișinău and vice-president of the Liberal Party, attended Boboc's funerals.

The opposition parties subsequently used his death as an important subject during the July 2009 electoral campaign.

The police declared he was found dead in the Great National Assembly Square.

According to the official investigation, he died of inhaling a toxic gas, his death certificate stating as cause "poisoning with an unknown substance".

The Boboc family and the lawyers disputed this, claiming instead that the young man was beaten to death while in custody.

Moldova's Attorney General however noted that the bruises and bleeding traces on Boboc's body were not a cause of his death.

The body of Valeriu Boboc was exhumed at the cemetery of Bubuieci on June 15, 2009, for further investigations.

During a protest gathering around 3,000 in the city's central square on April 12, 2009, Dorin Chirtoacă called for a moment of silence in memory of Valeriu Boboc.

On April 12, the spokeswoman of the Interior Ministry, Ala Meleca, has denied media reports blaming the police for the death of Boboc.

Ministry of Internal Affairs (Moldova) released a statement on April 12, 2009, saying an autopsy showed that Boboc had a broken rib, but that his death had not been caused by the injury.

In 2010, the "Valeriu Boboc" Prize was established by the Senate of Romania for "defending the fundamental human rights and democratic values", but has never been awarded.