Ion Munteanu: "The Tajik citizen is under criminal investigation for murder and faces up to 20 years or even life imprisonment"
The Tajik national who killed a border policeman and a security employee in the Chisinau airport on Friday evening is in hospital in serious condition and unconscious, Acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu said in a briefing. At the same time, the head of the General Police Inspectorate, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, said the only person injured in the intervention was the attacker.
He came to Moldova by plane on the Istanbul-Chisinau flight, but was not allowed to enter the country. The head of the General Police Inspectorate, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, told a news conference that he was physically fit and the tragedy happened in a matter of seconds.
According to Viorel Cernăuțeanu, the citizen of Tajikistan landed in Chisinau at 14:48 and presented himself at the document processing counter at 15:10. After 11 minutes, he was isolated and told that he could not be admitted to the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
"The actual action of attacking the Border Police colleague took place at 17 and 13 minutes, when our colleague was attacked and those subsequent actions were carried out. Shots were immediately applied to the colleague at the Border as well as to the colleague at the Airport. Immediately, in the first two minutes, at 17:15, at two minutes, the first police team that was in the Airport area intervened. Likewise, these colleagues from the National Inspectorate for Public Security got into an exchange of fire with the attacker," said Viorel Cernăuțeanu.
The head of the IGP said that all persons were immediately evacuated from the airport premises. Ambulance crews and rescuers arrived at the scene at 17:30. The heads of the law enforcement agencies also arrived.
"From 5:30 pm to 5:50 pm, two operations were conducted in parallel. The assault group documented and established assault procedures for the Airport headquarters. At the same time, attempts were made to conduct negotiations. The negotiating group tried to enter into negotiations with the person in question," added Viorel Chernateanu, Chief of the General Inspectorate of Police.
Following the negotiations, it was found that there were no other people present at the scene and no hostages were taken. Thus, the assault group entered.
The intervention lasted two minutes and 30 seconds. At the time of the intervention, the assailant also attacked the policemen in the assault group. Shots were exchanged and the person was injured. The only person injured in the intervention was the attacker, Viorel Cernăuțeanu revealed.
Acting Prosecutor General Ion Munteanu said at the same press conference that there was no information that the attacker was affiliated with any military group. However, after contacting law enforcement officials in Tajikistan, it was confirmed that he was involved in a criminal action in his home country.
"The first doubt appeared to the Border Police employees when the person could not very clearly explain the reason for his stay and the period of his stay on the territory of the Republic of Moldova."
"Following discussions with our colleagues in Tajikistan, persons who are the targets of the act for which the suspect is wanted for yesterday's murder at the airport are not on the territory of the Republic of Moldova," the acting Prosecutor General added.
He informed that the attacker is currently in the Institute of Emergency Medicine in the capital, in serious condition and unconscious.
Asked by Moldova 1 for more details about the attacker's condition, the institution's spokeswoman Dorina Arsene told us that all details will be provided by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Ion Munteanu said the Tajik national is under criminal investigation for murder and faces up to 20 years or even life in prison. He cannot be extradited from Moldova.
