The ‘Alunelul’ case, opened on the death of a two-year-old – in the final stages of prosecution
The Chisinau authorities have completed the biological forensic examination in the case of the death of the two-year-old girl who lost her life in a park in the capital, crushed by a crack that fell on the tricycle she was riding. The information was given to Ziarul de Gardă by the head of the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office, Oleg Afanasii.
Contacted by ZdG, the head of the Chisinau Municipal Prosecutor’s Office said that the case is in the phase of finalizing the criminal prosecution and that in the coming period, “depending on how the process of finalizing the criminal prosecution will proceed”, it will be sent to court.
In July 2022, the Chisinau authorities completed the forensic expertise in this case. The results of the forensic examination showed that the girl died as a result of the blow.
On 30 June, the Chisinau Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, Main Office, reported that, following investigations, on 20 June, a foreman of the municipal enterprise “Association for the management of green spaces” was recognized and heard as a suspect in the criminal case of negligence in the service of public persons, resulting in the death of a one-year-old girl in the park “Alunelul” in the capital. According to ZdG’s sources, it is the foreman of the “Green Spaces”, Buiucani sector, with whom ZdG’s reporter spoke earlier and who said he “does not know and does not comment on this case”.
Earlier, ZdG wrote that Petru Carp was one of those interviewed as part of the City Hall’s internal investigation. When asked by the ZdG reporter at the time about the Canadian poplar from which the giant branch fell, Petru Carp replied, “I don’t know, I don’t comment… I don’t know, I don’t know…” He then blamed the fact that the cleaning permit was given late by the Environment Agency, without further clarification.
On May 14, 2022, a two-year-old girl was crushed to death by a large branch that fell on her from a tree in Chisinau’s “Alunelul” Park. The branch fell over the pram in which the girl was sitting. She was with her grandmother and her parents were attending a fair nearby.
At the same time, criminal proceedings were initiated for failure to perform or improper performance by public persons of their duties as a result of negligent or reckless behaviour towards them, which caused the death of a person.
“In the context of the above, we inform that, at this stage of the criminal proceedings, the prosecutors have ordered a biological expertise of the objects of plant origin, after the execution of which the criminal case will be referred to justice,” the Prosecutor General’s Office announced.
Two days after the incident, several people protested in front of the Chisinau City Hall, demanding accountability for those responsible for the death of the two-year-old girl.
As a result of the so-called internal investigation of the City Hall, only the director of the municipal enterprise “Association for the Management of Green Spaces” paid with his position, after this case he was dismissed. This is not the first case in Chisinau when people die crushed by trees. ZdG has previously conducted a parallel investigation with the authorities and presented the weak links in a chain of bureaucracy and indifference, which resulted in the death of a child on a clear spring day.
