Constitutional Court as step before ECHR

23.07.2009 15:40
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The Parliament should charge the Constitutional Court (CC) to consider the complaints of the citizens unhappy with the final verdicts of Moldovan courts. The opinion was evinced by CC chairman Dumitru Pulbere, who believes that fewer will go to the European Court of Human Rights, if the law is adopted, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Unfortunately, the CC does not have such powers. We hope the new parliament will return to this issue,” Dumitru Pulbere told a news conference on July 23. Pulbere has reminded that such a draft law failed to gain enough votes in 2005. “They used to say this law will ban the Moldovan citizens to go to the ECHR, but it won't be a hindrance for citizens,” the CC chairman said. “We hope this issue will be discussed at the December sitting of the Venice Commission. The individual recourse of citizens will enhance the efficiency of the national judiciary. At the same time, it will ease the consideration of the complaints to the ECHR, which has to deal with 105,000 requests a year,” said Gagik Harutyunyan, the chairman of the Armenian CC. They broached the topic of the frequent modification of the constitution, too. “The important rule is the stability rule,” said Ioan Vida, the Romanian CC chairman. “The issue has another facet: the Constitution also establishes the boundaries of the political game. Sometimes, these principles are not respected and they mix up the public authorities with the political parties,” Ioan Vida said. Aivars Endzins, a member of the Venice Commission, has said: “The law musty be alive, but there should be rules preventing political parties to intervene with modifications of interests,” he said. On Juluy 22 and 23, Chisinau hosted an international conference in the wake of the 15th anniversary of Moldova's Constitution. The reunion has been attended by chairmen of constitutional courts from 18 countries, as well as scores of organizations accredited in Chisinau. Moldova's Constitution was adopted on July 29, 1994 and its anniversary was marked earlier because of the snap elections on July 29.