Moldova fined by ECHR for belated enforcement of judgment

The European Court of Human Rights found Moldova guilty of failing to enforce a final judgment in favour of a Moldovan national in due time. The plaintiff, Vadim Cogut, after 27 years of military service requested from the Ministry of Defence a two-roomed apartment. Following the Ministry’s refusal, he brought an action against it. Cogut’s claim was satisfied, but since the Ministry did not have apartments available, he lodged an action with the Centru District Court seeking money from the Ministry in lieu of an apartment. The court ordered the Ministry to pay the plaintiff the sum of 83,000 lei, but Cogut received the money only four years later. The European Court held that there had been violations of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No.1 to the Convention on account of the belated enforcement of the final judgment, and ordered the State to pay the plaintiff 3,300 euros for damages and costs. The Moldovan Government has lost more than 100 cases at the ECHR and was obliged to pay about 1.8 million euros for damages.