A number of 16 judgments of the 54 passed by the ECHR against Moldova in 2019 referred to the violation of human rights on the left side of the Nistru. By these 16 judgments, the Court pronounced in 34 cases. The ascertained violations refer to the right to liberty and security and to detention in inhuman and degrading conditions.

In a news conference at IPN, Alexandru Postica, programs director at “Promo-LEX” Association, referred to two cases: “Filin against Moldova and Russia” and “Negruță against Moldova and the Russian Federation”.

In the first case, the Republic of Moldova was convicted for not honoring the obligation to prevent the arrest of the plaintiff by representatives of the Transnistrian militia. Alexandru Postica said the plaintiff was taken from an apartment situated in Ciocana district of Chisinau, was taken to Dubăsari town and sentenced to nine years in jail. Recently, this was free from detention. The man’s wife informed the police immediately after his arrest, but the police in Moldova didn’t take measures. The prosecution bodies also didn’t investigate the case.

In the second case, “Negruță versus Moldova and the Russian Federation”, Moldova was sentenced for favoring and contributing to the arrest and transfer of the plaintiff to the Transnistrian militia. Alexandru Postica said the constitutional bodies directly took part in the plaintiff’s arrest and in his transfer to the Transnistrian militia in 2010.

In the case “Iovcev and others”, Moldova was freed from liability and only Russia was found guilty. In this case, the ECHR ascertained the violation of a number of rights of teachers of Romanian language lyceums situated on the left side of the Nistru and of students. It was established that the teachers’ right to teach in the Romanian language was violated. The Court punished Russia for holding the lyceum’s principal Ion Iovcev and colleagues of his for a short period of time and for sequestrating their possessions.

Alexandru Postica noted that after the cases “Ilașcu” and “Catan”, the Republic of Moldova limited itself to political approaches, but failed in particular cases. “In the future, the authorities should probably pay attention to the individual problems of the victims of human rights violations on the left side of the Nistru than to limit themselves to political statements,” he said.

The Republic of Moldova in 2019 ranked fifth among the countries against which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) passed the largest number of judgments. As a result of these, the state was obliged to pay over half a million euros damages to plaintiffs.