Supreme Court of Justice qualifies a Chisinau City Hall’s order as illegal

The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) of Moldova has qualified as illegal the City Hall’s order by which municipal authorities prohibited the Amnesty International Moldova (AIM) organization for defense of human rights from protesting in front of the US and Belarus embassies on October 10, on the World Day against Death Penalty. SCJ pronounced this judgment as part of the lawsuit that was held on Wednesday November 15. “We welcome the SCJ’s decision which recognizes that the Chisinau City Hall violated the freedom of expression and of assembly, stipulated by the Moldovan Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights”, Evghenii Golosceapov, AIM director executive stated. As the protest manifestation scheduled for October 10 did not take place, AIM intends to sue Chisinau City Hall, seeking to receive non-pecuniary and material damages caused to Amnesty activists. On October 4, Chisinau City Hall refused issuing to AIM the authorization to protest on October 10, along with the members of the other national associations, in front of the USA and Belarus embassies. Amnesty International Moldova, Hyde Park and GenderDoc-M were to take part in the event. According to the organizers, the City Hall detected in this request “a secret purpose to achieve other objectives”. In City Hall’s opinion the manifestation could have also led to the violation of public order. On October 9, Chisinau Court of Appeal rejected the AIM’s. But on November 15, the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova annulled the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal and qualified the City Hall’s refusal as illegal.