Moldovan lawyer wins ECHR case against investigators

Oleg Mancevschi, a Moldovan lawyer, won on Tuesday, October 7, a case at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, in which he complained that investigators had illegally searched his office and his apartment. The Court held unanimously that the authorities had failed in their duty to give relevant and sufficient reasons for issuing the search warrants and awarded Mancevschi EUR 2,500 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 1,535 for costs and expenses, Info-Prim Neo reports. Lawyer Vitalie Nagacevschi told a news conference on Wednesday that the plaintiff was involved as a witness in a case concerning one of his corporate clients, Rusman company, which was allegedly linked to a murder. This apparently served as a reason for investigators to seek warrants for the search of Mancevschi's addresses. The warrants were eventually issued by Judge Elena Cobzac of the Rascani District Court. The European Court was particularily struck by the fact that the search warrants had been formulated in extremely broad terms, which had given unfettered discretion to the investigators to search for anything they wanted in both Manchevschi’s apartment and the law office. Furthermore, Manchevsci himself was not charged with, or suspected of, any criminal offence or unlawful activities and the European Court noted the absence of any special safeguard to protect lawyer-client confidentiality. With the ECHR judgment in his favor, the plaintiff demands that the Superior Magistracy Council, the Moldovan self-governing body of the judiciary, and the Prosecutor General initiate proceedings against Judge Cobzac with a view to reprimanding her, including holding the judge financially accountable for the damages brought to the government's budget.