The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favour of another complaint filed by the Chisinau-based Flux daily. On 24 July 2001 Flux published an article titled “Communists Misin and Stepaniuc had a big-time party on the money of Lukoil”. The article criticised the changes made by the Communist parliamentary majority to the taxation system, which allowed the Customs Department to postpone tax levies on fuel imports for up to three months. The article argued that big fuel importers with good contacts with the Customs Department would make profits as a result, which would amount to unfair competition. It claimed that the postponement of tax payments constituted a form of credit by the State without interest or guarantees. The then leader of the Communist parliamentary group, Victor Stepaniuc, lodged an action for defamation against the paper. The domestic court ordered the newspaper to publish an apology and to pay MP Stepaniuc damages and court fees totalling 3,690 lei. ECHR found the State guilty of violating the freedom of expression and ordered it to pay EUR 4,278 for damages and costs. The Moldovan Government has been found guilty of violating human rights in almost 100 cases examined in Strasbourg, being obliged to pay from taxpayers’ money more than 1.8 million euros (about 30 million lei) for damages. Roughly one thousand cases against the Moldovan Government are still waiting for their turn at the Court, which is, according to experts, the largest number of complaints per capita of population.