The Soroca Court sentenced a former employee of the Transnistrian militia to 15 years in jail for break-in, kidnapping and acts of torture against two inhabitants of Florești district. The court also obliged the defendant to pay €20,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage to the victims. The sentence can be challenged in the Bălți Appalls Court within 15 days, IPN reports.
The Promo-LEX Association said that employees of the Transnistrian militia on the night of April 9, 2015 kidnapped a couple of Moldovan citizens from their own home and took them by boat to the Camenca commissariat on the left side of the Nistru. There, the victims were beaten cruelly and placed in the remand prison, being charged with stealing of two rabbits.
On April 12, 2015, following the intervention of the constitutional authorities, the two inhabitants of Florești district could return home. The examination of the victims showed that these had multiple injuries and suffered psycho-emotional traumas as a result of the pressure to which they were subject. The two victims had to attend a rehabilitation course at the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria”, which issued a certificate that was used as evidence in the trial.
Until January 2020, the criminal case started by the constitution authorities of Moldova was suspended as the accused shrunk from responsibility. In January, the trial was resumed after the constitutional authorities managed to arrest one of the accused. The argued sentence was passed on August 5, 2020.
According to Promo-LEX lawyer Pavel Cazacu, of the large number of cases of kidnapping, maltreatment and torture committed by the militia of the Transnistrian region, this is one of the few cases, if not the first one, that were examined by the court.
Promo-LEX repeatedly calls on the constitutional authorities to make effort and show maximum diligence to fulfill the assumed positive obligations to hold accountable the persons who commit illegalities regardless of the place of commission on Moldova’s territory.
