European Court fast-tracks case concerning torture in Transnistrian region

The European Court of Human Rights has decided to fast-track the hearing of the case of “Iurie Matcenco vs. Moldova and Russia”, a case concerning torture and illegal detention that occurred in the Transnistrian region, Info-Prim Neo reports. The case is represented at the European Court by the human rights organization Promo-LEX and the lawyers Alexandru Postica and Doina Ioana Straisteanu. Promo-LEX said in a press release the governments of Moldova and Russia would be obliged to provide explanations, until May 12, on the case of Iurie Matcenco, who was allegedly threatened with execution by the security authorities in the self-proclaimed republic. While in detention, which the lawyers consider to be illegal, he was refused medical assistance during his 44-day hunger strike. The case of Iurie Matcenco is the first application heard by the European Court, after the case of “Ilaşcu and others vs. Moldova and Rusia ” (judgment of 24 June 2004), that concerns extremely serious violations of human rights in Moldova's Transnistrian region, the organization said. “Transnistria has become a black spot on the map of the Council of Europe. Serious violations of human rights are perpetrated in private, unauthorized detention places, where detainees are tortured and kept without medical care and food”, says Doina Ioana Straisteanu, an international human rights expert. “Human rights have no borders and the difficulties with which the conflict in the region is being settled doesn't excuse the impunity with which the separatist authorities transformed Transnistria into a gulag”. Lawyer Alexandru Postica, the executive director of Promo-LEX, says that if the Moldovan and Russian authorities fail to find a solution to enforce observance of human rights in the Transnistrian region, the European Court will find a mechanism. “Many people were and still are in situations like Iurie Matcenco's. However they are reluctant to seek help from the legitimate authorities, because they have lost trust in them. For about 18 years now Moldova's law enforcement bodies have been neglecting the constitutional rights of the people living on the territory controlled by the Tiraspol administration and have been declining responsibility for the situation in that region”, declared Ion Manole, the chairman of Promo-LEX.