Adrian Glijin has been freed after spending 913 days, or two and a half years in unlawful detention. He was kidnapped and taken to the Transnistrian region, where he was condemned to 13 years and 6 months of prison for “high treason”.

The human rights group Promo-LEX recalls that Adrian, together with three other Moldovan citizens, was kidnapped on 7 October 2022 by unidentified people near the village of Cuzmin, Camenca district.

After incessant petitioning, two months after the abduction, Adrian’s family was informed by the Transnistrian de facto authorities that he was being accused of “high treason” and was being detained in a Tiraspol remand center. Meanwhile, the young man’s family experienced a series of abuses at the hands of Tranistria’s security forces, who searched the homes of Adrian’s mother and his wife, confiscated personal belongings and vandalized the family’s car.

On December 7, 2020, the then Moldovan Interior Minister Pavel Voicu told a press briefing that the abduction was in revenge for a former Transnistian police officer being convicted for his role in the kidnapping and torture of Florești couple in April 2015.

For a whole year, Adrian’s family was denied the right to see him and know whether he was alive at all. It was not only until December 2021, after Promo-LEX started a public campaign, that Vera Glijin, his mother, was able to get a visit to the remand center. The meeting was not confidential, and Mrs. Glijin could not obtain complete and credible information about her son’s health and about the charges against him.

In January 2022, Promo-LEX lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court decided to fast-track the case.

According to Promo-LEX, Adrian Glijin’s situation speaks volume of the so-called judicial system in the Transnistrian region: kidnapping, fabricated and politically motivated criminal charges, illegal detention in inhumane conditions, absolute restriction of access to the case materials, including to the verdict, the impossibility of a medical examination by an independent doctor and repeated refusals to requests for a confidential meeting with the family. The 19-month period during which Adrian Glijin was in “pre-trial detention” was also contrary to the local de facto legislation, which sets a maximum of 18 months. During Adrian’s detention, Promo-LEX provided legal assistance to the family and constantly pleaded for fundamental procedural guarantees.