The European Court of Human Rights passed judgment in the case of Morgoci versus Moldova. Moldova was convicted for the inhuman treatment of plaintiff Constantin Morgoci, who was born in 1976 and died in 2010. The state is to pay €11,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage, IPN reports.
The Jurists for Human Rights Association said that a Russian court in 2005 sentenced the plaintiff to 14 years in jail for murder and car theft. The Russian authorities extradited Morgoci to Moldova for conducting an investigation. In his application to the ECHR, the plaintiff said he was perfectly healthy when he was extradited. In Moldova, he was held in inhuman conditions as the cell was wet and dark and there was no bed and mattress there. He didn’t get breakfast and dinner, while the walks were short. He was also abused by police officers.
In February 2006, the plaintiff mutilated himself in protest by cutting his abdomen. He was hospitalized. According to the medical certificate, the plaintiff had signs of self-mutilation and head traumas and suffered from intracranial hypertension. He was also diagnosed with tuberculosis and treatment was prescribed to him. In different periods of time, the plaintiff complained that he had pain in the left part of the body, saying it appeared as a result of ill-treatment. Afterward, the man submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office, reporting police abuse. His complaint was rejected.
By the sentence of March 1, 2007, the Botanica Court acquitted the plaintiff on all the counts and this decision was upheld in the upper court. On November 11, 2007 the Moldovan authorities extradited the man to Russia for serving the remaining part of the sentence. In about two years and nine months, this died.
In 2006, the plaintiff filed a civil lawsuit against the Moldovan authorities, asking for damage over inhuman treatment and detention conditions, lack of effective investigation and infection with tuberculosis. By the irrevocable decision of the national courts, the plaintiff was awarded 15,000 lei in respect of non-pecuniary damage. After the man’s death, his sister Tamara Morgoci expressed her wish to maintain the application submitted to the ECHR.
The Court unanimously held that that the European Convention on Human Rights was violated. Constantin Morgoci asked €30,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €3,000 court costs. The Court awarded him €11,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
