Six years after passing the judgment on the case of Catan and others by which the European Court of Human Rights ascertained that Russia violated the right to education of the students of the Moldovan-administered Romanian language schools in the Transnistrian region, on October 23 the ECHR pronounced a new sentence whereby it found Russia guilty of violating the right to education of students of the boarding school of Tighina and obliged it to pay €64,000 damages.

According to “Promo-LEX” Association, the case involves 11 plaintiffs. The ECHR ruled in favor of ten of these and against the eleventh. It obliged Russia to pay by €6,000 to the plaintiffs and another €4,000 court costs, which is a total of €64,000.

By the ECHR judgement of October 19, 2012, Russia was obliged to pay €1.07 million to 170 plaintiffs, but it hasn’t yet implemented the decision.

Contacted by IPN, “Promo-LEX” president Ion Manole said not only the payment of the damages awarded by the ECHR matters for the persons involved in this case. It is important for them to enjoy all the necessary conditions and to have the right to education respected. A conclusive example is the situation of the students of the lyceum in Grigoriopol, who continue to daily travel to Dorotskaya to study and back. The lyceum in Rybnitsa could not recover the building occupied in 2004. Similar problems are faced by the lyceum “Alexandru cel Bun” of Tighina. The Association’s lawyers continue to make effort for Russia to fulfil its obligations and pay damages.

The number of students at the Romanian language schools in the Transnistrian region decreased by 35% during the past six years. On October 19, 2012, the ECHR noted the 50% reduction in the number of students at the lyceums “Evrika” and “Alexandru cel Bun” is too high to be explained by demographical factors only.