In 13 years of the death of Valeriu Boboc, who was beaten in the central square of Chisinau during the April 2009 events, the European Court of Human Rights passed its judgment in this case, IPN reports.

The application concerns the beating to death of Valeriu Boboc, the applicants’ son and husband respectively, during mass protests in April 2009 in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the manner in which his death and ill‑treatment were investigated.

The applicants complained that their son/husband Valeriu Boboc had been subjected to severe ill-treatment by State agents, as a result of which he had died, and that the domestic authorities had failed to investigate effectively the circumstances of his death. Under the same head, the applicants complained of mental suffering caused by their son’s/husband’s death and the authorities’ inadequate response to their complaints.

The Court held that there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention and awarded the young man’s parents and wife €50,000 in respect to non-pecuniary damage and €7,000 in respect of costs and expenses.

On April 7, 2009, the people protested against the results of the April 5 parliamentary elections that were won again by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova. The protests, which involved mainly young people, degenerated into violence and both civilians and police officers suffered injuries. Only the death of Valeriu Boboc is officially recognized as having occurred during those events. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, after the events of April 2009, persons who said that they suffered as a result of the actions of the police submitted 77 complaints. A total of 108 criminal cases were started as a result. In 71 of the cases, legal action was taken over use of torture (42), abuse of power and abuse of office (19) and for other categories of offenses (10).