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Today, September 3, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights has released its ruling on 6 cases related to human rights violations in the Transnistrian region. The cases are: Besleaga and Bevziuc (Application no. 29182/14), Ursu (25197/11), Boltenco (Application no. 28972/13), Petis and others (Application no. 6151/12), Samatova (Application no. 8064/11), Dobrovitskaia (41660/10). All the above cases were filed against the Government of the Russian Federation and that of the Republic of Moldova and were represented by Promo LEX.

The Court found violation of several articles of the European Convention for Human Rights, namely art. 3 inhuman and degrading conditions of detention, art. 5 the right to freedom and security, art. 6 the right to a fair trial, art. 13 of the Convention, the right to an effective remedy and art. 2 of Protocol No. 4 freedom of movement.

Thus, the High Court ordered the collection of 121,550 Euros as moral damages and 9,000 Euros as costs and representation expenses.

We remind the reader the essence of the cases. Vitalii Besleaga and Serghei Bevziuc, co-founders of “Varnita Unicum”, a company for the production and sale of therapeutic mineral water, got in the limelight following their abduction on November 15, 2013, by the officers of the so-called “committee of investigation of the PMR”, being subjected to physical violence. Details of the case can be found here.

On November 4, 2014, the so-called Supreme Court of Tiraspol ordered the release of the businessmen, however immediately after their release from the penitentiary of Hlinaia, they were abducted and transported into an unknown direction by armed persons wearing masks, who arrived on cars without registration numbers. Vitalii Beșleaga and Serghei Bevziuc were released on December 1, 2014.

Alexandru Ursu, a police lieutenant and a district operative officer of the Hagimus police station, Causeni District, was detained in the period between July 2009 – November 2012 in the penitentiary of Hlinaia, Transnistrian region. He was abducted on July 21, 2009 by Tiraspol militia representatives and accused of forgery and counterfeiting of documents and scams in the purchase of a real estate facility on the territory of Transnistrian region.

In the case of Boltenco, the applicant was detained in 2005 for alleged accusations of “theft in the workplace”. His health condition aggravated because of the conditions in which he was detained, as well as due to the lack of medical assistance. The applicant had a heart attack, which was not properly treated. He had been detained for 8 years and was released in December 2014.

Ivan Samatov was forcibly enrolled into the “army” of the Transnistrian region in 2005, where he underwent inhuman and degrading treatment and was forced to perform various tasks in favor of army officers. Due to continuous ill-treatment, Ivan left the military unit. He was subsequently caught by the militia and returned to the same military unit, where the ill-treatment continued. For “desertion”, the applicant was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment.

In Petiș and others, the applicants were arrested by militiamen and held in detention in the period between 27- 31 August 2009.

Elena Dobrovitcaia was abducted by the representatives of Bender militia in June 2010 and held hostage because her mother Zinaida Ciuhnenco had not kept the appointment made by an investigating officer. She was released a few days after the case was made public.

For more details, please contact: Alexandru Postica, Lawyer, Program Manager, Promo-LEX Association: Tel: (22) 450024, GSM: 069104851, e-mail: [email protected]