If Moldova had ratified Rome Statute, April 7 protests wouldn't have taken place

The recently created Coalition for the International Criminal Court urges the authorities to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that was signed in September 2000. The authorities delay its ratification, arguing the procedure for obtaining the approval of the parliamentary commissions is very complicated, Viorel Barbanoua, coordinator at Amnesty International Moldova, told a news conference on March 16, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ludmila Popovich, director of the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria”, said the ratification of the document would provide the guarantee that no such crimes as the use of torture, genocide and mass rapes will happen in Moldova. “If Moldova had ratified the Rome Statute by April 7, 2009, the then events wouldn't have taken place,” Ludmila Popovich said. Ion Manole, the head of Promo-Lex Association, stressed that the abuses reported in the Transnistrian region that is not controlled by the constitutional authorities should constitute an additional impetus to immediately ratifying this document. The Coalition for the International Criminal Court announced that on March 18 it will hold a roundtable meeting involving representatives of the legislative body, while on March 31 – a public meeting in front of the Parliament to sensitize the ordinary people and the authorities to the importance of ratifying the Rome Statute. The Coalition includes the following NGOs: Amnesty International Moldova, the Resource Center for Human Rights CReDO, the Moldova Institute for Human Rights, the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria” and Promo-LEX Association.