The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued two judgments on September 17, finding Moldova and Russia guilty of violating the right not to be subject to torture and inhumane treatment, as well as the right to liberty and security. The ECtHR ruled that Moldova and Russia have to collectively pay moral damages amounting to 15,000 euros in the Negruță case and 20,000 in the Filin case. Negruță has been detained in the Transnistria region for four years, while Filin has been in prison there for six years. 

ZDG sums up the history of the two aforementioned cases: Negruță v. Moldova and Russia (Application no. 3445/13) and Filin v. Moldova and Russia (Application no. 48841/11). 

Negruță v. Moldova and Russia (Application no. 3445/13)

On June 14, 2011, Ghennadi Negruță was detained in Rezina by the Center for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption (currently the National Anticorruption Center). He was transferred to the so-called representatives of the militia bodies in the self-proclaimed Transnistrian region in a criminal case initiated by them. 

The applicant was charged and convicted by the so-called criminal prosecution bodies in the region and transferred from Hilanaia prison to Prison no.1, where he was held in inhuman and degrading conditions of detention. 

On October 27, 2014, he was released from the detention facilities. The court concluded that the Moldovan authorities, who had to control the situation at the time of the applicant’s arrest, did not prevent his detention by the self-proclaimed authorities in the Transnistrian region, who subsequently convicted and placed him in degrading and inhumane conditions. 

The court found the violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (the right to liberty and security) and 13 (the right to an effective remedy) of the Convention by both states – the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation. At the same time, it found the violation of Article 1 in the Additional Protocol to the Convention (protection of property), as a result of the “confiscation” of the means of transport belonging to the applicant by the so-called courts. 

The court ordered the collection of 15,000 euro as moral damages, of which 5,600 from Moldova and 9,400 from Russia. In addition to the moral damages both countries have to pay the compliant’s representation fees amounting to 1,900 euros of which 700 by Moldova and 1,200 by Russia. 

Filin v. Moldova and Russia (Application no. 48841/11)

On March 25, 2009, according to Oleg Filin, persons from the Ciocana Police Inspectorate detained him in his apartment in Chișinău municipality, where he lived. 

According to the complainant, the persons who detained him did not present any confirmatory document in this regard, more than half an hour after the arrest, the complainant called his wife and informed her that he is placed under militias’ arrest in Dubăsari, controlled by the self-proclaimed administration, in the Transnistrian region. 

On October 21, 2009, the Dubăsari district Court convicted Filin to eight years deprivation of liberty. He was released on March 17, 2015. He spent his detention in the Hilnaia city jail, in degrading and inhumane conditions. 

In Filin’s case, the Court held that it cannot be ascertained with certainty that the applicant was arrested by police personnel, but it is beyond any doubt that the applicant ended up in the arrest of the self-proclaimed militia organs in the Transnistrian region. 

The court noted that it did not receive any unequivocal response from the Moldovan Government regarding the way in which Transnistrian militia employees could cross several control posts. Therefore, the Court found that the Government did not make sufficient effort to prevent the applicant’s transfer to the detention facilities in the region. The court found the violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (the right to liberty and security) and 13 (the right to an effective remedy) of the Convention by both states – Moldova and Russia, regarding the way in which the Transnistrian militia employees could cross several control posts. 

The court ordered the collection of the sum of 20,000 euros as moral damages, of which 8,000 from Moldova and 12,000 from Russia. Additionally to that, the two countries have to pay the amounts for the complaint’s representation in the court- 2,000 euros, of which 800 euros by Moldova and 1,200 euros by Russia.

The cases in which the ECtHR found Moldova and Russia guilty, raise the issue of collaboration between the Moldovan constitutional law bodies and the representatives of the secessionist bodies, from the self-proclaimed Transnistrian region who have no right to examine cases and apply criminal penalties. 

Previously, the Court found this problem in the case of Braga v. Moldova and the Russian Federation, no. 76957/01. Recently the constitutional authorities have witnessed the arrest of an official from the unrecognized Transnistrian region who was also sent to the secessionist administration.