The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, said today that the Chairmanship is working and will continue to work actively in close co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Moldova through diplomatic channels on the case of Ilya Kazak, sentenced yesterday in Transdniestria on treason charges– and the related case of Ernest Vardanyan.
Ernest Vardanean, who before his arrest had been tapped for a job as a Moldovan representative at the United Nations, was shown on Transdniester television while imprisoned confessing to being a Moldovan spy. His family and friends have said the confession was made under pressure.