ECHR starts examining applications from Transnistrian refugees against Moldova and Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has started examining an application lodged by four Transnistrian refugees in which they blame the Moldovan and the Russian governments for the failure to provide them with housing, informed Anatol Bazgu, the president of the Transnistrian Refugees Movement, at a news conference on Tuesday. Bazgu said this is the first application to be examined by the ECHR from a set of over 100 applications submitted by the internally displaced persons from the eastern districts of Moldova. In this case, the applicants complain that their rights to property, to fair trial and to effective remedy were violated. For that, they claim EUR 50,000 from Moldova and EUR 150,000 from Russia in respect of non-pecuniary damage, for each of the four plaintiffs. According to Bazgu, the ECHR declared the refugees' complaints concerning Russia inadmissible, but the applicants will insist that the Court puts Russia back on the list of defendants. They think that it was because of Russia that they were compelled to leave their homes in Transnistria. “In the judgment concerning the case of Ilaşcu vs. Moldova and Russia, the European Court confirmed that Russia supported the Transnistrian conflict economically, politically and militarily”, stressed Anatol Bazgu. The refugees are convinced that all the 100+ applications will be in their favor and that they will obtain the requested compensations. “After we win at the European Court, we'll demand the Prosecutor General's office to initiate proceedings against those functionaries who violated the right of the internally displaced persons to decent living”, stated Bazgu.