When ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights in 1997, the Republic of Moldova introduced a reserve clause and notified that it will be unable to ensure the observance of the European Convention’s provisions concerning the actions taken by the self-styled Transnistrian authorities. This way, when the Republic of Moldova is convicted for violations committed in the Transnistrian region, the ECHR collects the awarded damages from the Russian Federation, judge Maria Frunze stated in an interview with IPN.

The judge noted that 13 of all the judgments passed by the ECHR against the Republic of Moldova in 2021 were convictions for the violation of rights of persons from the Transnistrian region. This way, the money awarded in respect of pecuniary and/or non-pecuniary damage was paid by Russia.

There are yet exceptions. The Republic of Moldova was recently convicted by the ECHR because the mother of four wasn’t awarded a benefit by the Moldovan authorities for the reason that she received a similar benefit from the unrecognized Transnistrian authorities. In this case, the ECHR held that if the Republic of Moldova does not recognize the bodies constituted on the left side of the Nistru, it cannot recognize the documents issued by these, including those concerning the provision of the benefit.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized recognizes occupation of Moldova’s Transnistrian region by Russia

The interview entitled “Republic of Moldova and ECHR, how the human rights are respected” was produced by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “Support for the Justice Reform through multimedia coverage of cases of alleged injustice”.