Lawyers for Human Rights: Judges guilty of Moldova losing cases at ECHR have received medals

The Lawyers for Human Rights Association publicizes a list of judges allegedly guilty of Moldova losing cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2008. The association published similar lists for 2006, 2007 on its site (lhr.md), Info-Prim Neo reports. “I did see changes: some persons more often met on the lists were promoted and received medals. Don't laugh!” said association president Vitalie Nagacevschi, when asked to comment what can be noticed on those lists in years. “Let me give you an example: Vera Macinskaia,” the lawyer said. His colleague Vlad Gribincea says there is still a case when a law from the Chisinau Appellate Court was not promoted to the Supreme Court of Justice because she pronounced writs contrary to the European Convention. “But these cases are unique,” Gribincea specified. The two barristers insist that not their lists should influence the judges' careers, but rather the penal proceedings. “If some 30 judges are sacked following fair penal investigations, I assure you the image of the Moldovan judiciary will rise in the people's eyes, as the other judges will not feel so nonpunishable,” Vlad Gribincea said. On February 6, the chairman of the Superior Council of Magistrature (SCM), Nicolae Clima, stated at the annual assembly of judges, referring to the media-judiciary relationship: “The press must cultivate a correct culture about the judiciary in society and must not promote an aggressive approach of the judiciary with trends of fraud and total corruptibility of the system.” When asked by Info-Prim Neo's reporter what more the media can do to better the judiciary's image, Vitalie Nagacevschi has said: “I don't think it;s the media's task. Improving the image rests with the judicial power itself. You must not break the mirror if you have a twisted phiz.” SCM chair Nicolae Clima is also a judge with the Supreme Court of Justice. He is mentioned 4 times on the list of the Lawyers, because he voiced sentences later compelling the Moldovan tax-payers to pay damages to plaintiffs at the ECHR. The association's list also has names of judges with the Supreme Court of Justice as Dumitru Visterniceanu, Vera Macinskaia, Sveatoslav Moldovan, Anastasia Pascari or Raisa Botezatu, who participated in pronouncing at least two court verdicts, later condemned by the ECHR. In 2008, Moldova paid damages worth 9.7 million euros following the ECHR's judgments, while the whole budget meant for the judiciary was 8.1 million euros. “Cheap justice costs dear,” said Vlad Gribincea, adding that Moldova pays the biggest damages per capita among all the member countries of the Council of Europe. The list of the Lawyers for Human Rights was compiled on the basis of information of lawyers having represented plaintiffs at the Court and on the basis of the Court's decisions. The list may therefore be incomplete and contain errors.