CHISINAU, Moldova — Officials in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdnestr have promised to release news soon on the fate of journalist Ernest Vardanian, a dual Russian-Moldovan citizen who is being held on treason charges.
Vardanian, a freelance journalist based in Transdnestr, was detained April 7 and has been held in an isolation unit despite appeals for his release fr om Russia, the United States and human rights groups.
State security officials in the region declined to give any details about his case or say when it might come to trial.
But spokesman Andrei Cebotari said Monday: "Very soon, in days, there will be details about this case which will be distributed by the state security ministry of Transdnestr."
Vardanian, 30, is being held on suspicion of treason, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Vardanian worked until a year ago for a Russian Internet publication and later began working for Puls, a newspaper based in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, to wh ere he commuted regularly from Tiraspol, Transdnestr's main city.
Puls journalists said he later left their employment after a warning from Transdnestr's security service but continued to freelance for the newspaper from Tiraspol.
Transdnestr, a Russian-speaking strip of land running down the eastern rim of Moldova, has existed outside the control of the central government in Chisinau since breaking away and fighting a brief war with Moldova in 1992.
Journalists' rights groups have urged the Transdnestr authorities to release Vardanian, who is married and has two children. Russia and the United States have also made diplomatic appeals on his behalf.
"I just don't understand. Nobody is talking any sense to us about this," said Vardanian's wife, Irina. "My husband was given a weak lawyer who formally goes through the process of defending. I am trying to find good lawyers, but many people are afraid, it seems, of losing their jobs."
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