Moldova loses two more cases at ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Moldova in a new case on Tuesday, January 9. The court held that Moldova violated the right to the freedom of expression and has to pay damages of almost EUR 10 thousand. According to ECHR portal, Moldova was condemned in the case “Kommersant Moldovy vs Moldova”. Moldovan authorities were accused of violating the article 10 of the European Convention for Human Rights: freedom of expression. The ECHR judgement says that the newspaper “Kommersant Moldovy” published a series of articles in June-September 2001, criticizing the authorities of Moldova for their actions in respect of the break-away region of Moldova and reproducing harsh criticism of the Moldovan Government by certain Transnistrian and Russian leaders. On November 5, 2001 the Prosecutor General of Moldova initiated court proceedings against the applicant in the Economic Court of Moldova. The applicant was accused of “endangering, through its publications, national security and territorial integrity together with public safety and order in Moldova”. On November 30, the Economic Court of Moldova accepted the claims of the Prosecutor General and ordered the closure of the newspaper. The court from Strasbourg decided that there has been a violation of Article 10 of the Convention, referring to the freedom of expression. The ECHR decided Moldova will pay EUR 8000 in respect of pecuniary damage and EUR 1500 in respect of costs and expenses. Also on Tuesday, the ECHR condemned Moldova in the case “Mihalachi v. Moldova”. It held that there has been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which refers to the right to a fair trial. In this case the Government will have to pay to the ex-prosecutor Nicolae Mihalachi about EUR 5000 as pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.