Vladimir Botnari, former chief policeman of Chisinau requests prosecution of the journalist Mariana Rata from the Center for Investigative Journalism. Botnari filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office of Chisinau and he claimed that the journalist accessed and published, without his consent, personal data concerning him and his family. In the same complaint, the former chief policeman requests prosecution of all those who have accessed and published personal data concerning his family from October 2009 until present. Prosecutors opened a criminal case upon the request of former chief policeman.

In the complaint filed to the Prosecution, Botnari argues that the investigative journalist would have "accessed and published personal data as well as data about family Botnari and properties of his daughter”. According to former chief policeman,   this information is included in the article published on the portal Anticoruptie.md "Vladimir Botnari, former chief policeman of Chisinau, appointed head of Department at Moldtelecom".

The article is about the appointment of the former chief policeman as head of the Security Department   at Moldtelecom. He was prosecuted for negligence during the events of 7 April 2009, resulting in the death of Valeriu Boboc. Contacted by Anticoruptie.md portal, Vladimir Botnari confirmed then that he worked for Moldtelecom, but he declined to say details about his position. The reporter of the Center for Investigative Journalism filed in December 2016 a formal request to Moldtelecom to find out about employment conditions in this company and duties of Botnari, but did not get any reply.

The article covers information which was previously published by the press about properties of family Botnari. She did not mention the name of Botnari’s wife or daughter, the journalist wrote:” press has previously written about the property of Vladimir Botnari. According to Ziarul de Garda, former chief policeman of Chisinau owns a luxury house and a villa in village Tohatin where he is often seen together with his wife”.  

Except for the name of Vladimir Botnari, the article does not include other personal data. However, he invokes the fact that he did not served a public office since 2009, as he worked for a private institution. The former chief policeman calls for "investigating the case and prosecution under Art. 177 par. 2 Criminal Code, of the persons responsible for accessing and publishing personal data about Botnari Vladimir, Botnari Maria and Alexa-Botnari Diana ".

In other context, Botnari requests the prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the persons responsible for accessing and publishing personal data about Botnari Vladimir, Botnari Maria and Alexa-Botnari Diana since October 2009 until present under Art. 177 par. 2 Criminal Code.

Vladimir Botnari’s complaint was registered on December 27, 2016 and journalist Mariana Rata was questioned by the prosecutor several days ago.  The prosecutor will decide by January 27 on starting criminal proceedings.