The ethnic and racial stereotypes are still a problem for the Moldovan society. In this respect, Roma people from Moldova are often subjected to discrimination. The lawyers of Promo-LEX Association provided assistance on such a case of discrimination.

It is about the case of Cosmina Novacovici, a Roma woman who claims that she had been subjected to discriminatory treatment and humiliated by police officers of Buiucani Police Inspectorate, because of her ethnic origin. According to Mrs. Novacovici, in February 2015 she was apprehended by two persons who introduced themselves as police officers while she was shopping. Mrs. Novacovici was informed that she had been apprehended because she matched the profile of a law breaker, who committed a theft and namely: Gipsy woman, height 160-165, hail put tightly in a bun and black jacket.

The police officers did not provide any other details and insisted to escort her to the police station in order to provide explanations about her location when the crime was committed and undergo the recognition procedure. After 30 minutes of interrogation and humiliation inside the store, Ms. Novacovici being in an induced state of fear, gave up and went to the police station.

The humiliations continued in the police station, as well. Cosmina Navocovici was visually examined by a lady who treated her with contempt. After this, Mrs. Novacovici was further interrogated by the police officers, who insisted that she did not have the right to know more information, and the profile indicated by the victim was identical with her facial outlines, height and ethnic origin.

In March 2015, Mrs. Novacovici submitted a complaint to the Council on Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (CPEDEE), in which she complained about the humiliating treatment by police officers of Buiucani Police Inspectorate, motivated by the preconceived idea related to her race, expressed by racial profiling, her apprehension without any objective reason, except for the legal procedure and dignity humiliation because of the Roma origin.

In September 2015, the Council found that the allegations included in the complaint represent a major form of racial discriminationaccording to Articles 1, 2, 4 a) in conjunction with Article 8 h) of the Law No 121 on Equality. See the full text of the decision here.

The CPEDEE decision was appealed by the Buiucani Police Inspectorate in the court of law. Nevertheless, on 9 December 2015, the Buiucani Court of Law dismissed the application submitted by Buiucani Police Inspectorate on the annulment of the decision issued by CPEDEE on case No 239/15.

Legal aid was provided under the “Strengthening civil society organizations from Moldova, including the Transnistrian region, to combat discrimination through advocacy actions” Project, implemented by The Equal Rights Trust and Promo-LEX Association and financed by the European Union.

For more details, please contact: Carolina Bondarciuc, Promo-LEX Press Officer: GSM 069637849, Tel/Fax (+373 22) 450024, e-mail [email protected]