The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) obliged the Russian Federation to pay €53,000 damages to the mother of Alexandru Stomatii, a young man who was conscripted by force and was then killed in a military unit in the Transnistrian region. In a judgement passed on September 18, the Court held that Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights’ provisions concerning the right to life, ruling that Moldova didn’t violate the same provisions, IPN reports.
According to Promo-LEX Association, the ECHR judgement is one more proof of the harsh realities faced by the young Moldovans who are conscripted into the so-called “Transnistrian army”. The young men who refuse to serve an illegal regime are hunted and persecuted by the administration of the Transnistrian region, while the Moldovan authorities are indifferent to this systemic phenomenon that has persisted for over 25 years.
Alexandru Stomatii was drafted into the illegal paramilitary bodies of Moldova’s Transnistrian region against his will. In 2009, the young man was taken to Bender and was then transferred to a military unit in Rybnitsa. At his mother’s request, Alexandru was moved to the military unit in Camenca town. On May 23, 2010, the young man was found dead, while being on guard in the military unit. The medical examiner established that Alexandru was shot twice, in the neck and in the back.
The military prosecutor of the Transnistrian region informed Alexandru’s mother that her son died as a result of his colleagues’ careless acts. The complaints submitted by the woman to the Moldova and Russian authorities produced no result. The Russian authorities provided no answer, while the Moldovan authorities suspended the procedure for the reason that no one who could be accused of murder was identified.
Promo-LEX said that even if the Penal Code of the Republic of Moldova bans the organization of an illegal paramilitary body or participation in this, these legal provisions remain a challenge for the Moldovan authorities. The young people drafted into the “army” in the Transnistrian region do their military service in inhuman and degrading conditions. The recruits are beaten and humiliated by superiors. According to a repot compiled by the association, during the past ten years there were identified a number of cases of death in the “Transnistrian army”. The persons who avoid conscription are fined up to €1,700 or jailed for up to two years. During the over 25 years of the declaration of Moldova’s independence, there was passed no sentence over the forced enrollment of young people into the Transnistrian region.
