Moldova to pay convict €30,500 for severe police brutality

Moldova was fined 30,500 euros by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in yet another case of torture and will have to pay this money to a convicted man named Petru Buzilov, who was ill treaded while in police detention, including with electric shocks, Info-Prim Neo reports. Buzilov's lawyer, Mihai Cibotari told a news conference on Thursday that his client was arrested in 2002 on suspicion or racketeering (banditism). Taken to the Hancesti Police Station, the man was severely beaten up by police officers. A gas mask was put over his head, then he was handcuffed and his legs tied together. Face-down on his abdomen, two electric wires were attached to his ears; he was given electric shocks while cold water was poured over him. In the meantime, another police officer had been blocking the air to the gas mask and moving the wires from his ears to his toes. The plaintiff said that he was subjected to the same ill-treatment five nights in a row. Buzilov told the ECHR that the authorities had failed to explain the origin of over forty injuries on his body recorded in the medical report. He also contended that the Prosecutor's Office had failed to properly investigate his complaint. The Court held that those injuries had been the result of ill treatment while in police custody. During the trial, the Moldovan Government submitted that the plaintiff had not been ill-treated and that the authorities had conducted an effective investigation into the plaintiff's complaints. “He (the plaintiff) says he was forced during the criminal investigation to sign certain documents and make certain declarations. As the ECHR also found, the things to which Buzilov was subjected to aimed at extracting testimonies and at punishing him. They had a grievous nature and must be treated as torture”, said Cibotari. Buzilov is currently serving his 10 years' term. The Helsinki Committee in Moldova, whose member Mihai Cibotari is, recommends that an effective investigation is carried out in this case to punish the guilty policemen and the authorities involved in covering up the case. The Committee also recommends that complaints concerning torture at the hands of the police are thoroughly examined. The Helsinki Committee in Moldova has won three cases at the ECHR concerning torture and conducts 50 other pending cases.