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The Promo-LEX Association calls upon:

.The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for Work, Social Protection and Families, with a view to carrying out protection orders and stopping violence towards victims of violence within families, and;
.The Prosecutor General, to take notice and to bring to account the following: Police employees Ion Casap, Ion Pungă, Marian Alexandriuc (village of Lipnic); Social Services employee Maria Dub (village of Lipnic); Prosecutor Mihail Vinogradov (Ocnița rayon); and Rîșcani Police Commissariat employees Ion Ţâra and Fiodor Moscoglo (Chișinău). The aforementioned have encouraged violence towards certain victims of violence within the family through the fact that they were aware of violence committed against the latter, but have not undertaken any effective action to protect the victims.

Through Law nr. 45 of 01.03.2007 on the Prevention and Combating of Violence within Families, a mechanism for protecting victims of violence within families was established that allows for the issuing of protection orders by the courts. It is the duty of the police and social services to enforce such orders.

Having represented many victims of violence within families, the Promo-LEX Association has encountered obstacles in the way of executing protection orders, originating from employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Work, Social Protection and Families. These obstacles come in the form of: 1) The reluctance of such employees to execute protection orders; 2) A lack of knowledge of the legislation in force regarding the penalties for those who break protection orders; 3) Ignorance of the mechanisms for protecting the life and health of victims of violence within families.

Miss X from the village of Lipnic, Ocniţa rayon -her name has been withheld so as not to aggravate her situation- has suffered violent treatment at the hands of her former husband for more than 20 years. Her complaints -addressed to the police in Ocniţa, in which she requested protection and the cessation of the violent treatment dealt her by her former husband- have not met with any response. In May 2010, her case came to the attention of the Promo-LEX Association who, in addition to notifying the police of Ocnița and Lipnic, obtained a protection order for Miss X by court decision on June 22, 2010. According to the order, the former husband is obliged to leave the residence of Miss X, and to not subject her to psychological, economic and, especially, physical violence.

So far, Promo-LEX has not received a response to any of the notifications it has addressed to the Ocniţa police and the social services bodies in Lipcani. Countless phone conversations with police officers Ion Casap and Ion Pungă have ended with them saying that the former husband has nowhere to go and that they do not know what to do. They have also said that they cannot help Miss X, and that she is not the only person suffering such violence.

Miss Y, from Chişinău -again, her name has been withheld- has suffered violence within her family at the hands of her former husband for many years. The complaints of Miss Y -addressed to the police headquarters in Rîşcani, in which she requested protection and the cessation of the violent treatment dealt her by her former husband- have not met with any response. The (former) husband was taken to the police headquarters in Rîşcani for one hour, after which he merely returned home and beat Miss Y even more cruelly. In June, Miss Y sought the help of the Promo-LEX Association, who on June 30 obtained a protection order for her. According to the order, the former husband is obliged to leave the residence of Miss Y, and to not subject her to psychological, economic and, especially, physical violence.

The numerous complaints that Miss Y has addressed to police, seeking their help in ensuring that her former husband complies with the protection order, have come to nothing. Furthermore, police officer Ion Ţâra of the Rîşcani police commissariat has tried to convince Miss Y that her former husband has in fact 3 months to leave her residence, while another police employee has said that the protection order should be dropped.

In both cases, the protection order has not been executed, in spite of the fact that the victims involved continue to suffer psychological and physical violence. Despite the numerous notifications made by both the victims and the Promo-LEX Association, the police at the Ocniţa and Rîşcani commissariats refuse to fulfill their obligations, citing various formal reasons. The inaction of the police effectively denies the rights of victims of violence within the family, while making the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Combating of Violence within Families meaningless, and the mechanism established by this law completely inefficient.

For more information, please contact Doina Ioana Străisteanu, Lawyer and Human Rights Expert, at the Promo-LEX Association : tel. 211- 622, e-mail [email protected], www.dis.md