Moldova has been found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Stristeanu and Others, which involved unlawful detention and violation of the right to property, Info-Prim Neo reports. The plaintiffs are three members of a family, Gheorghe Straisteanu, a well-known businessman and former Member of Parliament, and Natalia and Daniela Straisteanu. The fourth plaintiff is SRL Codrana-Lux, a limited liability company incorporated in Moldova, the majority of which is owned by the plaintiff family. All the applicants complained that the government tried to pressure them into giving up property they owned and that proceedings in which the authorities sought to annul the contracts of lease and sale of that property were unfair. Gheorghe Straisteanu also alleged that the harassment had included him being arrested in 2005 and 2006 and charged with car theft and uttering death threats. Gheorghe Straisteanu is a well-known businessman and a former member of the Moldovan Parliament, between 1998 and 2001. He was, among other, the founder of the first Moldovan private television company and owned a chain of petrol stations. After the Communist party won the elections in 2001 he retired from politics and had to wind up most of his businesses, including the television station and the petrol business. In July 2005 Gheorghe Straisteanu was arrested in Chisinau and accused of carrying out a series of car thefts.He was subsequently detained in poor conditions and with no justified reason. In October 2005 the then President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin held a meeting with high ranking officials. During the meeting he expressed great dissatisfaction with the fact that in spite of his clear indications to numerous State bodies, the plaintiffs' property was still in their possession and had not been returned to the State and a monastery. He gave them a deadline until November 2005 to solve the problem, threatened them with dismissal. According to the plaintiffs, after Gheorghe Straisteanu's arrest their family started to experience harassment from law enforcement bodies such as the Department for the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption, the police and the Prosecutor's Office, who intimidated and pressured them to give up their property. While in detention Gheorghe Straisteanu was approached by police officers, who proposed that he sell the property in exchange for his release. His wife was visited on numerous occasions by people claiming to be representatives of the above bodies. They requested her family to leave the property, failing which she would not see her husband again. The daughter was contacted on numerous occasions by police officers and investigators in charge of her father's case and ordered to sell the property. The Court awarded the plaintiffs a total of 27,000 euros in damages.