Moldova closes pro-communist TV station in censorship row

CHISINAU, April 6 Moldova's state broadcast regulator has stripped a pro-communist TV station of its licence, forcing it off air for what it said was biased reporting, the station said on Friday.

The move sparked accusations of censorship and could set back the former Soviet republic's efforts to forge closer ties with the European Union.

The station, NIT, has often criticised the ruling Alliance for European Integration, a group of pro-Western parties that came to power after defeating the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova in 2009.

NIT said it planned to appeal the regulator's ruling via the courts.

"Their decision shows the weakness of the authorities and the fact that the oversight body serves (the ruling parties') political interests," NIT producer Adela Raileanu told Reuters.

Moldovan law requires local media to observe "political and social pluralism" in reporting and stipulates that political parties or the respective sides in any conflict get equal air time.

The ruling alliance took power after violent protests in April 2009 triggered by a parliamentary election in which the Communists won 50 percent of the vote, enough to allow them to select a new president and amend the constitution.

The alliance won a subsequent election and pushed the Communists into opposition.

However, it took Moldova two and a half years to elect a president - who is voted in by the parliament rather than a popular vote - due to the Communists' refusal to support the alliance's candidate.

The parliament finally elected Nicolae Timofti, a veteran judge with no political allegiance, as president last month with the help of several ex-Communist Party defectors.

Wedged between Ukraine and European Union member Romania, with which it shares a common language, Moldova is one of Europe's poorest states with an average salary of $270 per month.

It relies on wine and vegetable exports and inflows of cash from Moldovans working abroad to sustain an economy that is heavily reliant on Russian energy imports.

But despite its poverty, Moldova, which has a population of four million, is pressing for association status with the EU and has won plaudits from Brussels for its economic reform plans. (Reporting by Alexander Tanas; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)