Moldova has yet a lot to do to implement ECHR decisions, study

Moldova is among the top states by the number of applications filed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), with about 1,000 applications a year. The country has been convicted 225 times and has yet a lot to do to implement the ECHR decisions. Such a conclusion was reached by the authors of the study “Implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, 1997-2012” that was launched in Chisinau on December 7, Info-Prim Neo reports. The study was carried out by the Legal Resources Center of Moldova. Experts said that Moldova already paid over €12.8 million under the ECHR decisions. At this stage, no serious problems were identified in transferring the money to plaintiffs’ accounts. However, there are problems related to the payment of commission for the transfer and the taxation of the sums. Vlad Gribincea, president of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, said the ECHR demands that the awarded damages should not be taxed. But the Moldovan legislation does not provide this. The authors of the study said there are no serious problems when the national procedures should be reopened after the ECHR judges state their opinions. Both the prosecutors and the judges ordered reopening the cases in most of the decisions of the ECHR, when necessary. The situation is worse as regards the prevention of similar violations in the future. According to Vlad Gribincea, the national legislation is modified quickly, there are included provisions aimed at avoiding the violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, but the laws are implemented inappropriately. Expert Nadejda Hriptievschi said that the most serious problems are related to the cases of maltreatment. No police officer was jailed for using torture even if the law provides for such punishment. Moldova continues to be convicted by the ERCHR in cases of torture as the judges impose too mild sentences in these cases. She also said that the parliamentary control on the adopted laws is poor or even inexistent. The MPs often hold only hearings, but the experts recommend instituting strict control over the implementation of the legislation. The study was made with the grants provided by the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program of the Open Society Foundation and the U.S. Department of State.