Chisinau, 5 October 2021 The signatory civil society organizations (CSOs) condemn the slanderous and unacceptable statements of the Prosecutor General against non-governmental organizations, independent media and development partners. They show a lack of understanding of the role of civil society and the prosecution in a society based on the rule of law. On 4 October 2021, Prosecutor General Alexandr STOIANOGLO told a press conference that some CSOs, independent media and some development partners are involved in "discrediting and blaming" him. In a document published the same day on the Prosecutor General's webpage, images from a former prosecutor's phone are shown showing correspondence between him and some representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps. This correspondence dates back to December 2019 and contains information about the prosecutor's office. Prosecutors reportedly gained access to this correspondence following the decryption of information from the former prosecutor's phone in a criminal case. The Prosecutor General's statements, by virtue of the position he holds and the institution he represents, are libelous and unfounded. We, the signatories of this statement, regret that the resources of the Prosecutor General's Office are used to monitor CSOs, their representatives and activities, instead of things of primary importance for the Republic of Moldova, such as: investigating the embezzlement of the banking system, the Laundromat or the illegal financing of political parties. We also express our concern that the Prosecutor General has knowingly and for his own personal interest allowed the publication of information from criminal investigations which is confidential. Disclosure of private correspondence and criminal prosecution materials is an offence under the Criminal Code. We underline that, contrary to the insinuations of the Prosecutor General, CSOs have not supported the recent amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office which provide for the evaluation of the work and dismissal of the Prosecutor General. Also, the CSOs' December 2019 meeting with the former prosecutor took place against the backdrop of the Prosecutor General's ban on other prosecutors discussing the situation in the prosecution, while things were going on in the prosecution that were unclear to outsiders. The purpose of that meeting in December 2019, attended by several representatives of civil society and independent media, was to document the situation in the prosecution. Monitoring state institutions is one of the core activities of CSOs. In his statements, the Prosecutor General referred to two studies launched in September 2021 by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and the Centre for Legal Resources of Moldova (CRJM). In presenting their analyses and formulating recommendations for the justice sector, IPRE and CRJM acted guided by the public interest and used official data published by the prosecution in this regard. The launch of these documents took place during this period, having been postponed due to the election campaign. The conclusions of the documents were not contested by the prosecutors. Moreover, similar analyses were also carried out by the JRCM until the appointment of Mr Stoianoglo as Prosecutor General. We believe that the accusations made by the Prosecutor General were intended to distract public attention from the problems in the prosecution, such as the lack of progress in investigating the banking system and the Laundromat, for which the Prosecutor General has been criticized by the entire society. Also, the Attorney General's attack came on the very day that several investigations into the #PandoraPapers documents, which highlight high-level corruption and money laundering through tax havens, were published, diverting attention away from them. Signatory organisations: Association for Efficient and Accountable Governance (AGER) Association for Foreign Policy (APE) Association of Independent Press (API) Promo-LEX Association Centre for Entrepreneurship and Economic Policy Centre Expert-Grup Centre for Legal Resources of Moldova (CRJM) CPR Moldova Development Foundation Institute for Public Policy (IPP) Institute for European Policy and Reform (IPRE) LID Moldova WatchDog.md