Hyde Park wins new case at ECHR

Three years after the occurrence of the incidents, Hyde Park won two new cases against Moldova at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The association complained about the violation of the freedom of expression after the suppression of three protests in 2007. The damages that the Government must pay to the plaintiffs total €15,000, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The cases at ECHR concerned three violent acts committed by the Chisinau police. Even if our protests were peaceful, authorized by the City Hall, the police hindered them. We were taken to police stations and held there by three hours and then released,” Hyde Park member Oleg Brega said in a news conference on September 17. The new head of Hyde Park Anatol Hristea-Stan said the abuse, suppression and pursuit started in 2003, after the association was created. The police invented different reasons like violation of public order or offering of resistance in order to stop the protests. According to the members of Hyde Park, the Government did not try to find a solution to this problem by amicable ways. Thus, they decided to complain to the ECHR. “The Government does not fulfill at least its duty to translate the ECHR’s decisions into Romanian, as this is a commitment made by ratifying an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. Only a quarter of all the Court’s decisions translated into Romanian are available on the Ministry of Justice’s website,” Oleg Brega said. €6,000 of the €15,000 damages must be paid to the association, while the rest to four of its members: Anatol Juravel, Anatol Hristea-Stan, Ghenadie and Oleg Brega. The Hyde Park members said they will invest this money in the association’s development. Founded on May 11, 2003, Hyde Park has 21 members. It has won six cases at the European Court of Human Rights.