Journalistic Investigations Center

• In peace time, in those 18 years from the Nistru River War, over 3,500 veterans have passed away, which is ten times more than the number of those who died during the military conflict in 1992. Most of the times, the reasons for their deaths are their weakened health, aggravated by the war wounds and mental affections generated by the post-war syndrome that were not treated and became more acute as time passed by, as well as the sorrows of life and social isolation. The forgotten heroes pass away in loneliness or beside the closest to them people.
• Over 3,500 veterans of the Nistru War have died in peace time
• The state does not have post-war rehabilitation programs

Around 30-40 veterans aged 40 to 55 years old die annually, says Eduard Maican, President of the National Union of Independent War Veterans (NUIWV), specifying that this number is increasing and already exceeds 15 percent of the contingent of those who fought in the Nistru War. According to him, most of the war participants, although still capable of working, have serious health problems that require treatments but the authorities do not have a post-war rehabilitation program, as exists in the countries that have been confronted with armed conflicts. “We should have a specialized center for the rehabilitation of war veterans that would bring them to a normal life. More than half of the veterans have never undergone a rehabilitation treatment, although the legislation provides that each of those who fought in the war should benefit from free treatment once in three years,” Maican says. “If we take into account the pace at which balneal treatment tickets are provided, then each veteran will get his turn of going to a sanatorium once in 20 years, according to today’s law,” NUIWV President specifies. 

Families of Deceased in Peace Time Are Not Entitled to Incentives

In the district of Căuşeni whose villages border with the area where severe fights were held in 1992, 3860 people participated in the war, of which 54 died and 21 were seriously wounded. Since the war and until now, 300 veterans have died, says Victor Bodeanu, President of the Căuşeni Territorial Organization of Nistru War Veterans. “There are veterans who have undergone rehabilitation several times but others have never had a treatment. Many of them die as a result of their wounds but also due to many other problems they face – lack of work, inadequate work conditions and others,” Bodeanu says. According to him, the families of the veterans deceased in peace time don’t have any support from the state. “We tried hard to obtain in the past years at least one hundred Lei from the Local Population Support Fund for the families of those deceased in peace time, Bodeanu says, but they haven’t given us anything this year.”

In Orhei, too, over 50 of those 800 veterans have died in the past years, according to the president of the territorial veterans’ organization, Andrei Calcea. Until now, only about 20 veterans from the district’s villages have undergone rehabilitation treatments in sanatoriums.

In Cocieri, 130 Fighters Died in Peace Time

In Cocieri, a village on the left bank of Nistru River, almost each resident, from little to the elderly, fought against the separatists during the war conflict. A group had the task to liquidate the military unit located near the village. None of those who had to take the unit by storm were informed that chemical and radioactive substances were stored there. The price of that attack was high. Some paid with their lives, others started to have serious health problems in a few years after the conflict. Until now, over 130 participants in the Cocieri battles have died. Most of those who are alive have leukemia but they cannot benefit from any of the incentives provided by the state to war veterans because they couldn’t obtain war participant certificates that would guarantee them those rights.

He Died Waiting for His Wheelchair

Anatol Cobâlaş from Floreşti fought two wars: the Afghan War and the Nistru War. He was seriously wounded in the Coşniţa battles and both his legs were paralyzed. He was only 31. His daughter was 12, and his son – only two. He found out from the press that a wheelchair and then a computer were given to him, but he didn’t receive anything. Anatol died in 2000, at only 39, without living to put his children up. His wife Lidia told us that, after Anatol’s death, the state did not help his family with anything. She was told that she was not entitled to incentives anymore because her husband died after the war. But the fact that his death was caused by the wounds from the war time does not matter to the authorities.

The Dead Do Not Have Any Rights Anymore

Maria Lupaşco with son

Filip Lupaşco fell in the Coşniţa battles and was decorated post-mortem with the “Ştefan cel Mare” Order. His older son was only two back then and the younger one – only six months. Filip’s wife says that the authorities remember them only when the Nistru War heroes are commemorated, as for the rest, when they need help, nobody notices them. When she asked for her 500 lei indemnity to which those holding the “Ştefan cel Mare” Order are entitled, she was told that only those who are alive are entitled to this indemnity but those who have died are not. “Only I know how I have raised my kids after my husband’s death. We cannot manage it only with the very small indemnity that we are receiving from the state. We are always in debts. The incentives to the public utilities are miserable. If in the first years after the war we had an exemption of 50 percent from the public utilities, now we virtually have incentives of 2 Lei for water and around 6 -7 Lei for the gas,” Maria Lupaşco says. She lives together with her two sons who are grown up now in an apartment block, on the last floor, where the ceiling is permanently moldy. She tried to obtain a land plot for building a house from the Chisinau Mayor’s Office, then she requested a preferential loan, according to a Government decision, but she hasn’t received anything, although the law guarantees her such rights. “I would leave the country on the first occasion only from shame… I have been told so many times that everything is forgotten, that the administration changes and money decides everything,” Maria Lupaşco says with tears in her eyes. In Chişinău, one street bears the name of Filip Lupaşco...   

Veteran Begging

Valeriu Iovu

Valeriu Iovu, from Bardar, Ialoveni, was 27 in 1992, when he was mobilized for war. In the Cosnita battles, a shell took away one of his legs. After the war, he could not make his dream, of building his own house, come true, because he did not have forces and money any more. The invalid pension he was receiving did not suffice even for medications. Being overwhelmed with troubles and difficulties, he accepted the proposal of some gypsies, who took him along to beg in Moscow, Sankt-Petersburg and in a few Polish cities, for three years. They promised him a lot of money, but he came home just with a weakened health. Shortly after that, the doctors removed both his kidneys. Several years in a row he had to travel weekly to Chisinau for the dialysis. The transportation and treatment costs exceeded his pension of 600 Lei that he was receiving from the state. During our last meeting he told us lamentably that he would like very much to help his two daughters, to build a house for them. He had already resigned to the derisive attitude of the authorities and wasn’t trying anymore to ask for their help. He managed to obtain a preferential loan for building the house from the territorial organization of Nistru War veterans. Valeriu Iovu died two years ago without seeing the house for his daughters finished.

Ilie Babuş from Răzeni, Ialoveni, who had lost both his legs in the Nistru War, passed away without obtaining the preferential loan for building a house. After his death, his family lost the right to a preferential loan. 

“Go to Those Who Sent You to War”

Many of the veterans, affected by diseases, poverty and despair, had no strength to continue living. “Only in the past ten years, 20 veterans of that war have killed themselves. This situation is alarming,” Eduard Maican says. “It is clear that they kill themselves not from a good life. Some cannot find work. Others are left by their families. Most of them are ignored by the society. They defended the country and now they see that nobody needs them.” Awful in this sense is the case of a veteran from Căuşeni who fought two wars: the Afghan War and the Nistru War. Holder of the “Ştefan cel Mare” Order, father of two children and a respected man in his locality, he couldn’t find a stable work place for a long time. The public officers he was turning to were sending him from one to another. One day, a chief from the district center threw him brazenly into the face “Go and ask for work from those who sent you to the war”. In a few days, he was found dead. Another tragic case is of a veteran, holder of the “Ştefan cel Mare” Order, who, being disabled, was trafficked to Moscow and forced to beg. Humiliated and trampled on, he killed himself upon returning home, Eduard Maican tells us.

They Cannot Obtain Fighter Certificates

Pavel Rotaru, President of the Ialoveni Territorial Organization of NUIWV says that the families of the veterans who died in peace time are not entitled anymore to indemnities and to compensation for certain costs. However, the incentives enjoyed by the veterans who are still alive and who live in villages are miserable: 29 Lei each month for wood, coal, water and others that don’t cover by far the real costs. “We, those who fought for our land, are discriminated against the veterans of other wars. For instance, the incentives on certain services that we enjoy are only 25 percent of those given to the veterans of the Afghanistan War,” Pavel Rotaru says. However, he is tolerant with the new country leadership and hopes that it will help the Nistru War veterans. “It is clear that for the 33 thousand veterans that we have now the state must allocate a very high sum of money on a monthly basis and when there is a shortage of funds, it is hard to cover all needs.” He, as many other veterans, have requested the Government to revise the system of granting war participant certificates, so that only those who had fought on the battlefield be holders of such certificates and, respectively, benefit from incentives. “There are many people who didn’t fight but have certificates. They already had apartments but also benefited from loans, while those who had fought indeed couldn’t obtain loans and are doing very bad,” Rotaru says. According to him, in the Ialoveni district alone, 116 participants in the Nistru fights have not been able yet to obtain their fighter certificates.

Social Allocations for Those with Special Needs

The Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family, Valentina Buliga, says that there are no special programs for Nistru War veterans and their families, but that the situation of each family in part is considered and the assistance will be provided depending on the needs and problems that each person has. “We have a number of social assistance actions within which both the veterans of the Nistru War and the families of those who have died will be supported if they fit in that type of services and social assistance. Just recently, on 2 March, indemnities of 500 Lei were allocated to 427 families from the Republican Population Support Fund. Several legislative initiatives on social protection are planned for the future that will also include the war veterans. They deserve all our respect and attention but we shouldn’t get away from beneficiary-centered social protection that is focused on those who deserve such protection,” Valentina Buliga stated.

This investigation has been produced within the Journalists for Human Rights Media Campaign, implemented by the Investigative Journalism Center with the support of the US Embassy in Moldova. The responsibility for this article belongs to the author.