Moldavian Central Soldiers and Officers Committee of All Bessarabia decided it could wait no longer, and called the First Soldiers Congress in Chişinău on –. 9,000 delegates came to represent the 300,000 Bessarabian soldiers in the Russian Army. The delegates had to come with written delegations from their military units, which were then checked. During the first day, the main theme was the disaster in the security situation in Bessarabia, which was full of gangs practicing pillage, robbery, rapes and killings of the population. At first, these were isolated gangs, but by October, whole regiments turned into such gangs. Two Cossack regiments were stationed in Bălți County, and a 3,000-strong Russian Army regiment in Orhei County had no other occupation but regular raids through these Counties. Among their victims were preeminent personalities, such as the lawyer Simeon G. Murafa, the engineer Hodorogea, and Mihai Razu in August 1917. On , the Congress, "based on historic, national and revolutionary" considerations, proclaimed Bessarabia territorially and politically an "Autonomous Republic". On 23 October, the Congress discussed the administrative question, and proclaimed the setting of the parliament "Sfatul Țării", composed of 120 delegates, 84 of which should be Moldavians, and 36 ethnic minorities, which should assume the national sovereignty. The Congress demanded that with the setting of Sfatul Țării, all political committees, except for the professional ones, to be dismantled. The number of members of Sfatul Țării was later raised to 135, and then to 150, preserving the 70%:30% ratio of Moldavians:minorities. An organization bureau ("birou de organizațiune") was elected to implement this decision. 44 delegates were to be elected by the Soldiers Congress, 36 by the Peasants Congress and its County representations, and the remainder by county and local commissions, different professional corporations, associations of the clergy, of the teachers, of the bar, of public functionaries, of workers, so that all the ethnic groups be duly represented.