ECHR hears 3 cases against Moldova and Russia

The European Court of Human Rights has heard three cases against Moldova and Russia. The plaintiffs are Moldovan citizens living in the Transnistrian area. Each complaint refers to a distinct school teaching in Romanian and the complaints have been submitted by a group of parents, children and teachers, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from a communique issued by the Promo-LEX association. The plaintiffs complain they were intimidated by the Transnistrian authorities for insisting to teach in Romanian with Latin script in their schools. “The plaintiffs sent numerous complaints to the Russian authorities, since most of the Tiraspol leaders are Russian citizens, Russia keeps on its troops in Transnistria and is a mediator in the conflict between Moldova and the Tiraspol break-away regime. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded by using general phrases about overcoming the conflict related to the Moldovan schools from Transnistria and warned on the danger of using force to settle the conflict, recommending to negotiate,” reads the communique. The plaintiffs have also complained that the Moldovan authorities failed to solve the issue, despite promises. The plaintiffs indicate there are 92,000 pupils in Transnistria. In 1989, the Moldovans accounted for 40% of the region's population, 26% were Ukrainians and 26% were Russians. The proportion is far from being observed in the Transnistrian schools: 82% of schools teach in Russian, 13.5% in Moldovan with Russian letters and in 3.8% of schools they teach in Moldovan with Latin letters. In 0.7% of schools they teach in Ukrainian. The cases of forbidding the Latin script happened in high schools in Rabnita, Bender and Grigoriopol towns.