NGO condemns secessionist authorities for decision to levy taxes for traveling via Transnistria

Promo-Lex Association, a nongovernmental organization that provides free legal assistance to the persons whose rights are violated in Transnistria, condemns the separatist authorities for the “unilateral and illegal decision to levy taxes for the movement of persons via Moldova’s Transnistrian region.” The organization expressed its position in a statement quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to the statement, even if the Tiraspol administration promised recently to cancel the taxes for staying in Transnistria, the movement of the people through Transnistria remains restricted from January 1, 2009. Moreover, the entry duty was raised from about 10 lei to 22.28 lei. Therefore, the situation has worsened. Promo-Lex considers that 2008 was marked by a relative liberalization of the movement of the people (especially of the Moldovan citizens living in other regions of the country), the tax for crossing the region being abolished. Even under such circumstances, the organization has earlier described the levying of taxes for crossing the “imagined border on the Nistru” as a serious problem in exercising the constitutional rights as the right to free movement and, respectively, the right to private property are gravely violated. This way, article 5, paragraph 1 of the Agreement on the Principles for Peacefully Settling the Conflict in Moldova’s Transnistrian region, signed by Moldova and Russia on July 21, 1992, are ignored and disregarded. The actions taken also run counter to the “local Transnistrian legislation”, including the intention statements formulated recently by the regional administration. Promo-Lex says that the tax is levied in the absence of a clear and predictable “local law”. Furthermore, such a “law” has never been published or made known to the residents of the region or of the country. Last year, there were granted time “concessions” for certain categories of people that visited or crossed the region, but now the situation is uncertain. The fact that some of the controls posts do not levy these taxes is dubious. This shows that there are no clear regulations in the field and this can lead to numerous abuses on the part of the persons that “have the right” to collect such fees. The organization stresses that this unilateral acts by the illegal Transnistrian regime contribute to a larger number of persons whose rights in this zone are violated, but also to increased dissatisfaction on the part of the people. Consequently, the region will be further self-isolated, the talks over the settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict will be negatively affected and the sufferings of the local population will deepen. Promo-Lex welcomes the Moldovan Reintegration Ministry’s reaction to the created situation and the effort made to establish its causes. In this connection, the Association calls upon the Moldovan authorities and the participants in the talks in the 5+2 format (OSCE, the EU, the U.S., Ukraine and Russia) to step up efforts to identify solutions that would enforce the Moldovan-Russian Agreement of July 21, 1992 and guarantee the right to free movement. Promo-Lex considers that the Joint Control Commission should come together for an extraordinary meeting, with the compulsory participation of delegations of observers on behalf of the OSCE, the EU, the U.S. and Ukraine, to examine the given issue. Promo-Lex Association has been already informed about such abusive acts and continues to offer free legal assistance to the persons whose rights have been violated in the Transnistrian region or in the Security Zone, the statement says. In a communiqué issued earlier, the Ministry of Reintegration said that it had received numerous complaints from the population about the keeping and raising of the given taxes after the Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov announced publicly that they would be canceled at a meeting with Moldova’s President Vladimir Voronon last December. The Ministry called on the relevant Transnistrian authorities and on the mediators and observers involved in the settlement process to take immediate action to remedy the situation in compliance with the agreements reached by Voronin and Smirnov.