The Government of the Republic of Moldova was obliged to pay €7,680 damages to a pensioner from Glodeni, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital by force as a result of an incident that occurred in May 2014. He then slapped the then minister of labor Valentina Buliga, who now served as a Member of Parliament on behalf of the Democratic Party, IPN reports.

According to Promo-LEX Association, the European Court of Human Rights on September 4 ruled that Article 5, paragraph (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated and obliged Moldova to pay €6,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €1,680 court costs to the pensioner.

Promo-LEX said Mihail Dogotari is a pensioner aged 76. He slapped Valentina Buliga in May 2014, when the minister had a meeting with inhabitants of Glodeni district. He was dissatisfied with his low pension and asked the minister about the pension calculation method. Valentina Buliga answered that his pension was rather high and asked ironically if the plaintiff really understood the meaning of the words used by him in his question. The man got angry and slapped the minister.
 
After the incident, the pensioner was sued for hooliganism. On July 2, 2014, at the prosecutor’s request, the Glodeni District Court ordered to subject the man to a stationary medical-psychiatric examination. On September 18, 2014, the man was arrested by a group of five police officers and taken to the Chișinău Psychiatric Hospital, where he was kept for over seven days.

In February 2015, the man submitted an application to the ECHR, complaining about the violation of his right to liberty and security. The High Court decided that the applicant was held in the psychiatric hospital in breach of Article 5 of the Convention and ordered to pay damages to him.