Case of Dubasari farmers reaches ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) informed the Government of Moldova and the Government of Russia about eight applications with complaints from 1,651 farmland owners from Dubasari district and from three agricultural commercial organizations. The plaintiffs are residents of Dorotskaya, Pirita, Molovata-Noua, Pohrebea, and Cocieri that are situated in the Transnistrian region and own land near the villages, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from Promo-LEX Association, the problem of farmland situated beyond the Tiraspol-Dubasari-Rybnitsa road appeared in 1998, when representatives of the secessionist Transnistrian regime installed checkpoints on the Tiraspol – Rybnitsa road. At the end of the 2004 agricultural season, the peasants were banned from going to their land. As a result, they sustained losses of dozens of millions of lei. At the start of the 2005 agricultural year, the owners also could not cultivate the land and suffered other losses. The land owners from Dubasari district protested in Chisinau and asked the Government of Moldova and the Government of Russia to take measures to make sure that the Moldovan-Russian Agreement of July 21, 1992, which guarantees the free movement on the left side of the Nistru, is respected. The Government’s steps weren’t sufficient yet and the farmers complained to the ECHR. The farmers said that their right to ownership was violated and that they did not enjoy an effective remedy at national level. At the ECHR, the plaintiffs are represented by lawyers and jurists of Promo-LEX.