Over the course of last year, the European Court of Human Rights pronounced 33 judgments in cases involving Moldova and 34 decisions to declare applications inadmissible. Of the 33 judgments, two involved Moldova alongside Russia in cases brought by residents of the Transnistrian region.
The Ministry of Justice said in a press release that the most frequent violations of the European Convention on Human Rights found by the Strasbourg-based Court in cases against Moldova included degrading treatment and poor conditions in detention, violations of the right to liberty and security, of the right to a fair trial, and of the right for an effective remedy. The total amount of damages ordered by the ECHR last year was over 5.4 million lei.
Compared to previous years, in 2018 progress was made as concerns the enforcement of ECHR judgments, such as timely payment of damages, greater involvement of the relevant authorities in the enforcement process, and legal amendments to humanize penal policy, the MoJ said. In particular, amendments to the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code have been put in place to compensate people held in inadequate detention conditions and to release them earlier from detention.
According to the Legal Resource Center NGO, in 2018 the ECHR received 814 complaints against Moldova, by 7.4% more than in 2017, when 758 applications were submitted. Related to population size, Moldovans complained to the ECHR 2.5 times above the European average. Last year, the ECHR pronounced by 17 judgments more than in 2017.
