The Moldovan Constitutional Court will begin hearings on Thursday on the legitimacy of a decree to create Soviet Occupation Day, proposed by the country's acting president last month.
On June 24, Moldova's acting president Mikhai Ghimpu, who is also the parliament speaker, promulgated a decree establishing June 28 as Soviet Occupation Day in the country and ordered a Monument to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation to be erected in front of the government building.
The motion to the Constitutional Court was initiated by the Moldovan Communist Party, which fiercely opposed Ghimpu's decree calling it unconstitutional.
In their statement to the court the communists stated that by signing the decree Ghimpu violated 13 articles of the country's Constitution, in particular an article on Moldova's sovereignty and integrity.
Ghimpu was made acting Moldovan leader in September 2009 when the country's liberal-democratic coalition was forced to find a compromise after failing to appoint another candidate. Ghimpu is known for his sweeping pro-Romanian policies. Recent polls show that Ghimpu's popularity rating is less than 2%.
On June 28, 1940, at a USSR request, royal Romania withdrew its troops from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which it had been occupying since 1918, and the region joined the Soviet Union. The Moldavian SSR, including six Bessarabia districts as well as six areas from the left bank of the Dnester, was established in August 1940.
CHISINAU, July 8 (RIA Novosti)
