With a short haircut, wearing men clothes, looks more like a boy. Her husky voice can be easily confused with a teenager. But her first name, betrays she is a woman. Ten years have passed, but Mihaela (changed name) is still regularly going to the cemetery, where was buried her only child, killed, from her words, with a simple injection, right in front of her eyes.

For years, Mihaela (30 years old) was a beneficiary of the Psycho-Neurological boarding from Balti. She claims that she was raped and beaten repeatedly by one of the doctors. Although she has relatives, she has lost touch with them. All that remained to do was to keep quiet and endure. Suicidal thoughts crept deeper into her soul. She confesses that she is alive as she did not have the courage to finish her thoughts. Now, she is safe, but argues that fear persists until now, because the one who is guilty of her misfortunes is still free.

She buried her baby in a cardboard box

“I wanted to leave from there, but did not know how. I wanted to hang myself, but I had no courage”, says Mihaela. The young woman argues that, for the first time, was raped in 2002, when she was 17. Sexual abuses were repeated, and two years later, on December 4th, 2004, she gave birth to a baby boy. The child had died at birth, and Mihaela even today longs for her son. She says, for a long time, she kept hidden the fact that she was pregnant. Medical staff found out only when she was in the sixth month of pregnancy. Says she was taken to hospital. “They took off the clothes I usually wear and dressed me in a robe, but I never wear a gown. They have put me a tablet under the tongue. I kept this one, as they were supervising, but I spited the rest”, says Michaela.

“I gave birth in the corridor, right below the door of physicians. In the room was no place for me. I gave birth to an angel. I held him in my arms. He was covered in blood and was crying. I was kissing him, “What are you doing, honey, why are you crying?” Then, they put me an injection and I fell asleep”, she recalls. “When I woke up, they gave me a box where was the child. He wasn’t crying any more. Not breathing. I took the baby and buried him. I put the cross on his neck with which I was baptized. I tore my shirt and I wrapped him, not to bury him naked”, says the young woman. She claims that the father would be the doctor who raped her. “He was his copy, he had tarred hair … I wasn’t with another man”, said the woman. Asked why died the kid who, according to her, was born alive, Mihaela responds that “they gave him a shot here” – pointing to the throat.

– Why are you wearing men’s clothes?
– I feel safer this way.
– When did you start wearing them?
– Since I am 12, when I was beaten very hard at the boarding. I hid then in the basement.
– How does it help wearing men’s clothes?
– This way, what was will not happen to me again.

I could hear his voice fading

Mihaela claims that the doctor never raped her in her room, luring her into his office, on the grounds that he would have to discuss something with her or for an examination. “As we entered, he locked the door and that was it, there was no way out”, she maintains. “If I wouldn’t keep quite or oppose, he would have closed me in block II. There they close those who dare not to please them. There they destroy them. They put them injections and make them dizzy, and people jump from upstairs, but I still want to live”, says Michaela. Although it has been ten years since then, she regularly goes to the cemetery, where she buried her child. “I am an orphan. At least he won’t be left”, she said, her eyes filled with tears.

She says she was not the only one who got pregnant from the doctor and that none of the women took the pregnancy to the end, being forced to have an abortion. Aurelia, 33 years old, says she got pregnant from a man, a beneficiary of the boarding. According to her, medical staff did the abortion, without asking her whether or not she wants to keep the baby. “I really wanted a son. I was preparing to become a mother, but they have caused artificial birth. When I gave birth, I saw how they put him an injection and I could hear his voice fading. I took him, cleaned him, but he was still bleeding after the injection”, she recalls.

He raped me in the kitchen, downstairs…

ZdG contacted Vasile Petic, director of the Psycho-Neurological Boarding from Balti, he says he knows nothing about abortions.

V.P.: – I never heard of it.
ZdG: – But you also have couples at the boarding. Some are cohabiting.
V.P.: – They do, but I never heard of it.
ZdG: – You mean they do not get abortions?
V.P.: – I do not know. I never heard of it.
ZdG: – You’ve had no cases of someone getting pregnant?
VP: – No.

According to the UN Convention on people with disabilities, art. 17 (Protecting the integrity of the person), “in Moldova, people with disabilities have the right, like other citizens, of protection of physical and psychological integrity, which is a right guaranteed by the Constitution. Healthcare Law no. 411 of 28.03.1995 as amended contains a number of provisions such as: the patient’s consent for any medical benefit (art. 23, par. 1), voluntary surgical sterilization performed only with the consent of the person (art. 31, par. 1) voluntary interruption of pregnancy (art. 32)”.

Aurelia, although had a loved at the boarding, she was also the target of sexual assault of the doctor. She recalls in detail how man’s kitchen showed, where she was raped. “Terracotta was white. He had kitchen cabinet, a table like this (pointing to the table in the room). A large refrigerator, white, with three shelves. He had a lot of meat in the refrigerator”, she says. Beneficiaries from boarding say that the number of victims would be much higher, just that, subsequently, some were transferred to other institutions. The woman remembers that the doctor has a scar on his stomach: “On the right, as after surgery”. A forensic examination confirmed that the doctor previously was operated for appendicitis, a scar remaining.

The prison from Block II

Irina, 38 years old, is another victim of rape. “He told me that, if I tell someone, he will close me in the block II, where people are imprisoned. If you’re bad, they put you an aminazin. You sleep and wake up just in the evening, dizzy”, says Irina. Irina’s husband, he also a beneficiary of the boarding, was placed for a period of time in block II. “There they can beat you, not give you food. They take away even the bread. You stay locked and can’t get out”, she explains. There are some who say that some patients placed in block II, jumped from upstairs under the influence of drugs.

Aminazin and haloperidol are most often administered preparations in block II, according to our interlocutors. The medications, managed improperly, have side effects. Aminazin can cause depression, nausea, reduce blood pressure. Haloperidol can cause fatigue, depression, drowsiness, transient disturbances of sleep, grand mal seizures on epileptic patients, psychotic symptoms, hallucinations. I asked the director of the boarding of the block II, and all that happens there. He got annoyed hearing the question. “Listen, what are we doing here, lessons on the phone or what? Do not ask me. I’m busy driving and can’t talk”, said Vasile Petic, hanging up. Subsequently, he did not answer the calls.

The last victim

Ala, 30 years old, claims she was raped in doctor’s apartment. Rape would be produced in the anteroom. Ala says that she did not even shout because she was afraid of being closed in block II, from where she can’t get out until released. Violeta Gaşiţoi, the lawyer of women who accuses doctor in rape, says that justice in Moldova has big reserves. “It bothers me that the defendant is investigated while free. But, hope dies last. If I were a judge, I would give him life sentence, in fact, he risks at least 15 years in prison, for having committed a crime series”, explains the lawyer.

“The victims, mostly, have no relatives to whom they could complaint, except medical staff, who did not give them credence. The last victim, however, was the one who had someone to confide, phoning her mother”, says Violeta Gaşiţoi. Even after a year, Alina, 41 years old, recalls with horror the nightmare of that night. It happened in his room. After the doctor left, Tamara went and announced nurse of what happened. She, however, did not believe her. Nor even the nurse believed, who administered an injection, to calm her down. When she got back in the room, she called her mother, who alerted the police.

Doctor accused of rape, sick?

Stanislav Florea, the therapist accused of rape by several boarding beneficiaries, refused to speak to us. “I can not give you an interview. I am not even prepared. I do not give any interview, as I am in trial and with troubles, and … Therefore, I do not want to speak neither ways, nor here, nor there, I do not want to say anything”, he told us. Director of the boarding says he never would have thought that the doctor with whom he was colleagues would be able of doing of what he is offended. On the other hand, “during the day we were working together, but in the evening, each with his personal stuff. I could not guess such things. Who knows what was there and how it was”, he says. “I do not interfere in these things. He (doctor ) is dismissed. Who knows? Maybe he’s sick?”, added Vasile Petic.

Victims have gained courage to speak only after Stanislav Florea was dismissed. Some, however, recognize even now that they fear. “As long as he is free, I can not calm down. I go to the city. Walk, walk and suddenly turn around. I feel like he’s behind me”, says Mihaela, who lives in a protected apartment. Criminal case of Stanislav Florea was started on February 28th, 2013, according to art. 171, paragraph 2 (a) CP (rape committed by a person who has previously committed a rape) and art. 172 paragraph. 1 CP (violent actions of sexual nature). The trial continues. Currently, 19 beneficiaries of boarding accuse the therapist of rape. Meanwhile, one of them died.

Olga Bulat