Flux paper wins additional EUR 5,000 in Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today ruled in favour of the Chisinau-based Flux newspaper in the case of “Flux v. Moldova (No.2)”, finding the State guilty of violating the article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In June 2002, Flux published an article in which a communist MP was accused of “doing dirty business”. The preview of the article published on the first page two days before that displayed a big picture of the then leader of the Communist Party parliamentary group, Victor Stepaniuc. The next day, Stepaniuc brought proceedings for defamation against Flux and the author of the article. The Buiucani District Court imposed a 3,600 lei fine on the paper and a 1,800 lei fine on the author. Two appeals by Flux against that judgment were ultimately dismissed. The Strasbourg Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of article 10 of the Convention and obliged the State to pay EUR 5,078 for damages and expenses. To date, ECHR pronounced almost 70 judgements against Moldova, of which 22 in the first 6 months of this year. For the violations admitted, the Moldovan government was obliged to pay a total of EUR 800,000.