Russia was found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Moldovan young man Vadim Pisari, who was killed by a Russian peacekeeper near a security checkpoint located on the bank of the Nistru River at the beginning of 2012. Even if this case involved Moldova too, the state wasn’t convicted because the checkpoint was under the command of the Russian military forces, IPN reports.
In a press briefing, Minister of Justice Vladimir Grosu said the ECHR ruled that Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – right to life – was violated. It held that the Russian peacekeeper shouldn’t have fired as Vadim Pisari had been unarmed and posed no danger either to the soldiers at the checkpoints or to the public in general. Also, the Russian authorities had failed to involve the victim’s family in the investigation. Neither the applicants nor the Moldovan authorities received a copy of the Russian authorities’ decision terminating the criminal proceedings in respect of the Russian peacekeeper.
Russia is to pay Vadim Pisari’s parents €35,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €5,580 in respect of costs and expenses.
The minister noted that this decision confirms the reasonableness of the Moldovan constitutional authorities’ request to transform the peacekeeping mission from a military one into a civil one.
Lawyer Alexandru Postica, director of the Human Rights Program of “Promo-LEX” Association, said a problem deriving from the incident of January 1, 2012 is that the position of the peacekeeping checkpoints should be reviewed so that these are placed in areas where their presence is necessary. The setting up of a peacekeeping checkpoint at the entrance to the municipality of Chisinau is not appropriate.
Early in the morning of January 1, 2012, Vadim Pisari, 18, from Pirita, accompanied by a friend “passenger”, took a car belonging to another friend of theirs for a joy ride. Since the car needed urgent refueling, they decided to drive to a petrol station located on the right bank of the Nistru, in Vadul lui Voda town. In order to reach the petrol station they needed to cross a bridge over the Nistru. Peacekeeping security checkpoints were set up at both ends of the bridge, based on a ceasefire agreement of 1992. A Russian sergeant, who was the chief of the checkpoint located on the eastern side, fired at the car, wounding fatally the young man.
The Moldovan authorities instituted criminal proceedings, but in 2013 discontinued the investigation into the circumstances of the case in view of the fact that all the investigative measures had been completed and the suspect had absconded from the Moldovan authorities.
