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The “Promo-LEX” Association expresses its concern with the growing pressure on the schools from the Transnistrian region that use the Latin script, and the absence of any sizeable and visible efforts from the constitutional authorities and other actors involved in the Transnistrian settlement to prevent this.

Representatives of the separatist administration in Tiraspol pressured and threatened the managers of the Latin-script schools, and forced them to provide their employees’ personal data. The students from one of these schools were intimidated by the local militia who stormed the school during classes and attacked and brutalized one of the teachers.

On 9 December, the manager of the “Lucian Blaga” Lyceum in Tiraspol was contacted and told he faced an administrative sanction in the form of a fine of up to 2600 Moldovan lei for failing to provide data on the school’s staff members and their salaries.

The same situation was registered at the “Evrika” Lyceum in Ribnita. On 9 December, the separatist administration forced the management of the Lyceum to share their statistical and accounting reports, which contained personal data of their employees. At the same time, the school managers were obliged to go to the de-facto administration of the city to obtain fiscal code certificates. Note that the schools did not ask for the certificates, which were imposed on them as a means of exercising some control over these schools.

These actions by the de facto administration took place in the aftermath of the statement made by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the monitoring of the case Catan and other 170 v. Moldova and Russia. The CoE Committee of Ministers urged the Russian government to present relevant information, in the form of an action plan or a report, on the execution of the court decision in that case, as soon as possible. At the same time, the Committee of Ministers expressed its concern with the fact that the Russian authorities failed to provide any information on the taken measures.

Based on the above, the “Promo-LEX” Association urges the parties involved in the peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian issue to take into account the importance of ensuring free access to education in the region, and that the security of children and the staff members of the schools under the control of the constitutional authorities constitute a priority. We reiterate in this regard that any interference with the educational process is unacceptable, and attacks against the administration or teachers of these schools must be stopped, sanctioned and condemned.

For more detail, contact: Alexandru Postica, lawyer, Human Rights Program Director, Promo-LEX: tel: (22) 450024, mob: 069104851, email: [email protected]