Promo-LEX proposes that the Republic of Moldova pay the compensation awarded by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to victims of human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and subsequently recover the funds from the Russian Federation. According to the association, more than 1,800 people are awaiting compensation totalling approximately €7.23 million, which Moscow refuses to pay, IPN reports.
In this context, the Promo-LEX Association is calling on the Government to approve a draft law and submit it to Parliament by the end of December. The association explained that the funds would be recovered primarily by offsetting them against the Republic of Moldova’s sovereign debt to the Russian Government. Promo-LEX stressed that compensating the victims would not constitute an acknowledgment of the Republic of Moldova’s responsibility for the violations found by the Court. The Russian Federation’s obligation would remain in place, and the Republic of Moldova would become its creditor.
Vadim Vieru, a lawyer and associate expert at Promo-LEX, noted that some of the applicants had won their cases before the European Court of Human Rights as far back as 2012, yet have still not received their compensation. He stressed that the Russian Federation will not voluntarily pay the sums owed, and that many of those entitled to compensation are already elderly.
According to him, state intervention would show victims that the authorities support them and send a message to other states that commitments made in Strasbourg must be honoured, regardless of how powerful the state violating them may be. The lawyer also stressed that the proposed solution is lawful and can be funded from the public budget.
Among those who have won their cases before the European Court of Human Rights are a group of more than 1,600 landowners from Dubăsari district who have been denied access to their land beyond the road to Râbnița since 2004, and another group of more than 180 pupils, parents and teachers from schools that use the Latin script. A journalist convicted of “espionage” and a young man with asthma who was denied medical treatment after being detained are also entitled to compensation.
