On January 14, 2010, Moldova's Acting President,
Speaker Mihai Ghimpu, decreed to set up the "Commission for the Study and Evaluation of the Totalitarian Communist Regime in the Republic of Moldova". The commission aimed at studying the claims about crimes of Soviet regime in the former
Moldavian SSR from 1940 to 1991, as well as the period before 1940 when the country was an
autonomous republic within the
Ukrainian SSR. The commission was mandated to deliver a report by June 1, 2010, and subsequently to publish several volumes of documents on the main aspects related to crimes in Soviet Moldavia as well as to other human rights infringements. The commission is headed by historian
Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, the vice presidents are
Igor Cașu and
Sergiu Musteață, and the secretary being
Mihail Taşcă. Igor Cașu contributed to the
Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. The
presidential decree no. 165 was issued according to resolutions 1096/1996 and 1481/2006 of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Art. 94 of the
Constitution of Moldova (1994). A few days after the presidential decree was issued,
Vladimir Tismăneanu wrote: ==Members==