The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) passed its judgment in the second case of farmers from Dubăsari district (Oprea and others against Moldova and Russia) whose lots of land were sequestrated by the separatist Transnistrian administration, IPN reports. The Court found Russia guilty of violation of the rights of ownership and use of the farmland and ordered to pay €63,000 damages to the 42 plaintiffs and €4,000 court costs.

“The consequences of the abuses of 2004 committed by the secessionist administration that blocked access to the land and took this under its control continue to be felt. Apparently, the problem was solved by instituting mechanisms that ensure access to the privately owned land. However, it is not yet known how sustainable these are given that the Transnistrian administration often violates the undertaken commitments,” stated Alexandru Postica, director of the Human Rights Program of Promo-LEX Association.

The problem of farmland located beyond the Tiraspol-Dubasari-Rybnitsa road appeared in a number of villages of Dubasari district in 1998, when representatives of the separatist regime illegally installed posts on the Tiraspol-Rybnitsa road. At the end of the agricultural year 2004, the plaintiffs were banned access to their land and these sustained losses of millions of lei as a result. At the start of the agricultural year 2005, the landowners were again prevented from cultivating the land and they supported again huge losses.

In July 2018, the ECHR passed a decision in the case of Sandu and others against Moldova and Russia, ordering that Russia should pay damages to the 1,646 farmland owners and three agricultural companies based in Dubasari district.