The Courts do not know and do not apply properly the jurisprudence and the provisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which determines the high number of cases lost by Moldova at the ECHR. This is one of the conclusions of the public debate organised by the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and the Legal Committee for Appointments and Immunities on Thursday, July 19. A group of MPs proposed a draft law which aimed at amending the Constitution and creating a distinct national procedure on the examination by the Constructional Court of the petitions submitted by citizens. This would have been a supplementary guarantee for the citizens. However, the draft law was not backed in Parliament, and only the legislation in operation was amended, but this fact did not solve the problem. According to the governmental agent Vladimir Grosu, the number of cases lost by Moldova at ECHR has significantly increased lately. Moldova was penalised for non-fulfilment or delayed execution of the Court decisions, poor administration of justice, detainment of persons without legal grounds. Prosecutor General Valeriu Gurbulea mentioned about several practices of the law-enforcement bodies which violate the human rights, as the illegal detainment and undue arrest. He pleaded for applying more often the home arrest. MP Leonid Bujor considers that in light of the present situation in the field of justice, the number of petitions lodged with to the Court in Strasbourg will grow. He mentioned that the population does not trust the judicial system, becoming more informed. Bujor referred to political cases, saying the citizens are forced to resort to the ECHR. Lawyer Vitalie Nagacevschi, head of the organisation “Lawyers for Human Rights”, who represented several persons at the ECHR, qualified the reports of several officials as “an attempt to hide the truth”. He said the high number of cases lost by Moldova is due to corruption and lack of independence in the judicial system. Gheorghe Amihalachioaie, president of the Bar Association Council considers that the number of cases lost at ECHR by Moldova will increase because there are judges who do not even want to apply the jurisprudence of the Court. Moldova lost 67 cases at the ECHR so far, of which 24 this year. For all the lost cases Moldova has to pay about EUR 1.3 mln.