ECHR finds Russia guilty in Transnistrian schools case

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) convicted Russia in the case of the Transnistrian schools that use the Latin script. Moldova was also tried in this case, but the Moldovan Government managed to provide evidence of its actions aimed at protecting the rights of the Moldovans living in the Transnistrian region, Info-Prim Neo reports. The sentence was passed on October 19, eight years after the application was lodged. The ECHR held that the Russian Federation violated the right to education and that Moldova did not commit such a violation. Deputy Minister of Justice Vladimir Grosu told a news conference that Russia was obliged to pay damages of €6,000 to each of the 170 plaintiffs and €50,000 court costs within three months. The official considers that this decision will set a precedent for future cases concerning the violation of Transnistrians’ rights. The decision was taken by 16 votes for out of 17 possible. The plaintiffs are citizens of Moldova, who live in the Transnistrian region. The cases were sent to the ECHR in 2004 and 2006 by parents, teachers and students from Rybnitsa, Bender and Grigoriopol, who denounced the violation of the rights to education, private life and non-discrimination. In a communiqué, Promo-LEX Association, whose lawyers represented several plaintiffs at the ECHR, said that the administration of the breakaway republic of Transnistria aimed to ban the use of the Latin script for the Romanian language in all the public spheres in the region and imposed the Cyrillic scripts for the education establishments. According to Promo-LEX, the plaintiffs insisted that their institutions should remain within the jurisdiction and educational program of the constitutional authorities, the teaching being based on the Latin script. Consequently, the schools teaching in the Latin script were assailed and blocked and the students and parents were intimidated, persecuted, detained and prosecuted. Representatives of the victims, the executive director of Promo-LEX Association Ion Manole and lawyer Alexandru Postica said the decision is a historic one given the conclusions reached and their consequences for the human rights situation in the region. They hope that the situation of the students and teachers will now improve.