The top United Nations human rights official has called on authorities in Moldova to address the demands of protesters, warning that a failure to do so "could lead to greater polarization of society."
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein's comments on September 14 at the UN Human Rights Council come after more protests in the Moldovan capital to demand a probe into the estimated $1 billion that disappeared from three Moldovan banks.
Some 20,000 demonstrators in Chisinau on September 13 demanded the resignation of the president, the prosecutor-general, the national bank governor and others.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet said on September 11 that his government’s priorities are reforming the justice system and fighting corruption.
The antigovernment protest started September 6 when tens of thousands rallied in a central square. A few hundred protesters remain camped out there.
The money disappeared from the state-owned Savings Bank, the Social Bank, and Unibank before Moldova's parliamentary elections last November.
The banks are now administered by the National Bank of Moldova. State reserves have covered the bank losses.
