ECHR condemns Moldova for violating freedom and safety of persons
- 18.01.2012 06:56
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- 2 minute(s)
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Moldova guilty of violating the freedom and safety of persons in the case of Levinta versus Moldova. The plaintiffs will receive by €8,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €2,000 jointly for costs and expenses, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the association Jurists for Human Rights.
The applicants are brothers Pavel and Vitalie Levinta aged 40 and 37 from Cahul. In October 2000, they were arrested in Russia by the local police following a request from the Moldovan authorities. They were suspected of membership of a criminal organisation and of murdering, or attempting to murder, a number of persons in Moldova. All five of the other persons on trial with the applicants made self-incriminating statements during the pre-trial investigation, and fully accepted their guilt in committing the crimes with which they had been charged. The national courts convicted them. In 2008, the Court in Strasbourg condemned Moldova for torture.
In April 2009, the plaintiffs lodged an application with the ECHR. They complained in particular that: they were ill-treated in November 2000 in order to extract confessions from them and that they were subsequently deprived of sufficient medical assistance; that the authorities failed to properly investigate their allegations of ill-treatment; and, that they were arbitrarily convicted on the basis of their self-incriminating statements, given as a result of ill-treatment.
The ECHR unanimously held that Article 5 “Right to Freedom and Safety” was violated.
