ECHR orders Moldova to pay damages of over €6,000 to citizen

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on January 15 found Moldova guilty in a case concerning inhuman detention conditions. The state is to pay €5,000 damages and €1,500 court costs to the plaintiff, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from the Association “Jurists for Human Rights”, plaintiff Valeriu Mitrofan was the director of a private school and executive director of the Chisinau Industrial and Construction College. A criminal case was started in 2004 against him over fraud and abuse of power. He was accused of taking money from two students as tuition fee without informing the bookkeeping office about this. The court sentenced him to imprisonment. After making appeals to higher courts, the man was set free from Penitentiary No. 13 after staying seven months there. The plaintiff described the detention conditions in the penitentiary, saying he was held in a cell of 26 square meters together with 11 to 14 detainees. The cell wasn’t ventilated and fresh air came only through the window of the door going to the hall. In another cell, there was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. The walls and ceiling were wet and the toilet wasn’t separated from the rest of the cell. The cell has never been cleaned. The mattress was full of parasites and he was unable to sleep. The food was inappropriate and of a poor quality. The ECHR held that the plaintiff was held in overcrowded conditions.