The Parliament has held hearings on the judgments pronounced by the European Court of Human Rights with respect to the Republic of Moldova. The MPs were supposed to adopt on Friday, March 21, a decision recommending the Government, the public authorities, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the courts to undertake concrete measures to prevent fundamental rights and liberties from being violated in Moldova. Because of several objections as to the wording of the draft, the adoption of the document was postponed until the next week, Info-Prim Neo reports. Moldova’s governmental agent to ECHR, Vladimir Grosu, informed during the hearings that throughout the 10 years since Moldova became party to the European Convention on Human Rights, 111 judgments against Moldova have been pronounced, each containing at least one violation of a right guaranteed by the Convention. According to him, the most recurrent violations noted by ECHR were related to the right to a fair trial, to freedom and security, prohibition of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment, right to freedom of expression, to property, respect for private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of assembly and association, and others. Vladimir Grosu stated that some 40 percent of the ECHR judgments (in 46 cases) involved non-enforcement or belated enforcement of court decisions. The most common reasons set forth by those who were supposed to enforce them were the shortage of funds or lack of available housing. The governmental agent considers that the great number of cases lost at the European Court is the result of people starting to become aware of their rights, with courts facing an increasingly growing number of complaints. At the same time, Grosu observed that 50 cases stemmed from gaps in the national legislation, a remark that aroused dissatisfaction among a number of parliamentarians attending. According to caretaker Minister of Finance Mihai Pop, the Government had made all the payments in respect of damages awarded by the Court on time. In total, there were paid 1.5 million euros, one thousand dollars, and 490,000 lei. Other 3 million euros are to be paid if certain judgments become final. Acting Justice Minister Vitalie Parlog assured the MPs that the Minister has been taking methodical steps to prevent the risk of other cases being lost at ECHR. Each judgment is examined by a special commission, which subsequently makes recommendations for legal amendments. The Minister informed about other actions taken to improve the situation, like repairing detention facilities, the initiative to institute a mechanism for individual constitutional recourse, the project for building a new penitentiary that would meet European standards, etc. Prosecutor General Valeriu Gurbulea considers that Moldova has been subject to the risk of being a loser at ECHR ever since it ratified the Convention on Human Rights, because the then government had failed to react promptly and implement a post-ratification action plan. Speaking on behalf of the civil society, the chairman of the “Promo-Lex” Association Ion Manole came up with a new series of proposals. Among them are penalizing judges for unjustified or obviously unlawful decisions; increasing the number of judges, prosecutors, and criminal investigators and raising their salaries; establishing a viable mechanism for paying compensations for judicial errors; and others. Ion Manole remarked that human rights violations are a common occurrence in the Transnistrian region, so we should expect a new wave of condemnations from ECHR. The Opposition MPs accused the government of inefficiency and of inability to adequately ensure the respect for human rights.