In three years of the expulsion of the Turkish teacher by the Security and Intelligence Service, the case hasn’t been declassified, even if the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe also recommended this.
Contacted by IPN for a comment, Vadim Vieru, director of the Human Rights Program of Promo-LEX Association, said the Turkish teachers won two cases at the European Court of Humana Rights. Also, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe issued a decision, saying that the Government’s task is to make sure that particular measures that haven’t been yet taken are fully implemented.
Vadim Vieru, who is also the lawyer for the relatives of one of the expelled teachers, said that one more case is pending at the Chisinau City Appeals Court. The wife of one of the teachers filed an appeal and the fate of this cannot be known yet.
Vadim Vieru noted the case of expulsion remains classified. “The case remains classified despite a number of circumstances and of the fact that many politicians, including those who are now in power, promised that this will be declassified. We are waiting for them to make effort,” stated the lawyer. According to him, the declassification can shed light on what happened in September 2018.
The seven Turkish citizens, who were teachers and managers of the network of “Orizont” Lyceums, were declared undesirable and expelled from Moldova on September 6, 2018. The expelled citizens were convicted in Turkey. On June 11, 2019, the ECHR held that Moldova violated the rights of the seven foreigners and obliged the state to pay by €25,000 to five Turkish teachers.
Former SIS director Vasile Botnari was given a suspended sentence and was fined 88,000 lei.