Terry Davis: International Human Rights Day marks 13 years’ detention of Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov Popa

This year’s International Human Rights Day will mark the thirteenth anniversary since Ilie Ilascu, Andrei Ivantoc and Tudor Petrov-Popa were sentenced by the court in a so-called Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria, stated Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe. According to the European official, while Ilascu, who was sentenced to death, was later released, Ivantoc and Petrov-Popa have been unlawfully detained ever since, and their imprisonment in an illegal jail in the middle of Europe is a disgrace and a blatant violation of the European Convention of Human Rights. This was the view of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which ruled that the two men should be immediately released in 2004. The judicial body of the Council of Europe asked Moldova and the Russian Federation to take all necessary measures to put an end to the arbitrary detention of Ivantoc and Petrov-Popa by the so-called Transnistrian authorities. “It is unacceptable that more than two years later, the two men are still in jail. Even though it paid compensation as ordered by the Court, the Russian Federation continues to dispute the validity of the judgment as a whole and claims it is unable to secure the applicants’ release”, stated Davis. The obligation of Council of Europe member states to abide by the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights is unconditional and non-negotiable. The refusal to abide by the Court decision is inexcusable and puts at risk the enforcing mechanism of the Convention, added CE Secretary General. ECHR pronounced its judgment in case of Ilascu on July 8, 2004, calling on the two states to take all necessary measures to put an end to the arbitrary detention of the imprisoned applicants and to secure their immediate release. Till now, both Moldova and Russia abided only by the obligation to pay damages. On March 1 this year, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted an interim resolution, the third one regarding the ECHR judgment in case of “Ilascu and others versus Russia and Moldova".