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The ECHR has obliged Russia to pay 53 thousand euros to the mother of Alexandru Stomatii, a young man, who had been forcedly conscripted and killed in an illegal paramilitary unit in the Transnistrian region.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling finding that the Russian Federation had violated art. 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life. The ECHR compelled the Russian Federation to pay the applicant moral damages in the amount of 50,000 euros  and 3,000 euros as costs and expenses (see the judgment here). By the same ruling, the ECHR established that the Republic of Moldova did not violate art. 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The decision of the ECHR once again acknowledges the tough reality the young people conscripted into the so-called “Transnistrian Army” face. Those who refuse to serve an illegal regime are chased and persecuted by the administration of the region, while Moldovan authorities are indifferent to this problem, which exists for more than 25 years.

The Penal Code of the Republic of Moldova criminalizes the organization or participation in an illegal paramilitary formation. Over the past 10 years, Promo-LEX has identified several cases of death in the “Transnistrian Army”. According to the Promo-LEX Report, the young men, who  avoid enlisting in the so-called “Transnistrian army” are imposed fines of up to 1 700 euros or face imprisonment of up to two years. In the history of Moldova, there is not a single conviction for forced conscription of young people in the Transnistrian region.

The armed forces of the Transnistrian region bring together about 5 thousand people (the national army of Moldova has a staff of about 6 thousand people), distributed among 4 infantry brigades (Ribnita, Dubasari, Tiraspol and Bender); a special purpose brigade; a battalion of tanks, equipped with 20 fighting machines; 18 missile launcher systems of the “Grad” type and less than a hundred pieces of artillery.

In 2009, Stomatii was forcibly conscripted into the illegal paramilitary structures in the Transnistrian region, and in 2010, he was killed. The Russian authorities did not respond to his mother’s requests, while the Moldovan authorities suspended the proceedings on the grounds that no one, who could be accused of murder, was identified.

For more details, please contact: Natalia Munteanu, Communications Officer. Mobile phone: 069437040; e-mail:   [email protected]