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Marches in two Romanian cities in solidarity with journalists

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  • Marches in two Romanian cities in solidarity with journalists

    Marches in two Romanian cities in solidarity with journalists kidnapped in
    Iraq

    AP Worldstream
    Apr 01, 2005


    More than 100 journalists and residents of the Transylvanian city of
    Sibiu marched Friday in solidarity with three Romanian journalists
    kidnapped in Iraq as officials worked to secure their release.

    Supporters marched through the medieval city center and past the
    apartment building where the family of cameraman Sorin Miscoci lives.

    Miscoci, 30, and reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, 32, who work for
    Bucharest-based Prima TV, and Ovidiu Ohanesian, a journalist for the
    daily newspaper Romania Libera, were kidnapped near their Baghdad
    hotel earlier this week.

    An unidentified group sent video to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
    satellite TV network showing the three Romanian journalists and a
    fourth person identified as Mohammed Monaf with guns pointed at them.

    Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said no demands have been made
    yet.

    On Friday, priests held a service in Sibiu, some 300 kilometers (185
    miles) northwest of Bucharest, to pray for the safety and release of
    the journalists.

    In the northern city of Botosani, journalists gathered Friday in a
    central square to pray for their colleagues.

    The bishop of the county of Alba, Andrei Andreicut, called on
    believers to pray for the journalists.

    Romania's ethnic Armenian community also called for their release and
    appealed to Armenians worldwide for support. Ohanesian is ethnic
    Armenian.

    On Friday, still photos of the three in captivity, guarded by two
    masked gunmen, were published and shown on Romanian TV stations but
    Monaf was not with them. Monaf has Iraqi, U.S. and Romanian
    citizenship.

    Also Friday, President Traian Basescu met with the families of the
    missing journalists and Monaf's family.

    "The president assures them personally that everything possible is
    being done to secure their release," said Adriana Saftoiu, Basescu's
    spokeswoman.

    She said Basescu met with the heads of the domestic and foreign
    intelligence service and Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan
    Ungureanu. Romania has 800 troops in Iraq.

    "I want you to understand that the Romanian state is making a huge
    unprecedented effort" to obtain the freedom of the hostages, Ungureanu
    said. He called for "patience and understanding" in the case.
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