Prometeu high school founders win case at ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found the Government of Moldova guilty in the case of “Tocono and Profesorii Prometeisti v. Moldova”. Under the judgement, the Government shall pay the plaintiffs more than EUR 5,000 because it failed to ensure their right to a fair trial. In 1991, the Experimental High School was established, with its sole founder at that time being the “Tocono” Creation Association. However, in December the same year, the Government named as co-founders of the school five other legal entities which had invested in it. In 2001, following amendments to the school’s statute, only two entities – Tocono and Profesorii Prometeisti, an association formed by a group of teachers – were registered as co-founders of the school, which was renamed “Prometeu”. In June 2002, four of the former co-founders sued the amendments in court. On 30 June 2003, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) ruled in their favour an excluded the Profesorii Prometeisti Foundation from among the co-founders. The ECHR judgement also mentions that the son of one of the SCJ judges who examined the case had been expelled three years earlier from the school for misbehaviour, truancy and bad grades. As a result of the incident, the judge had allegedly threatened the school authorities with retaliation. The ECHR found in connection to the case that there has been violation of article 6/1 of the European Convention (right to a fair trial) and obliged the Government to pay the plaintiffs EUR 3,000 for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 2,080 for costs and expenses. This is the sixth case this month that the Moldovan Government has lost in Strasbourg, it being obliged to pay damages totalling more than 30,000 euros (over half a million lei). Practically all the cases dealt with the right to a fair trial.