Moldova's last failure at ECHR demonstrates inefficiency of national anti-torture policies: experts

The ECHR's condemnation in the case of Savitchi vs. Moldova – the judgment was pronounced on June 17 – once again proves the vulnerability of the policies promoted by the Chisinau authorities to annihilate torture. The opinion is shared by Moldovan NGOs concerned with defending the human rights. Although the Moldovan Government has gone on to show availability to align the judiciary system with international and European standards, this availability is not to be found in practice, the chief of the Moldovan office of Amnesty International (AI), Evghenii Golosceapov told a news conference on Wednesday. Torture and ill-treatment remain widespread and systemic in Moldova, while victims have great difficulty in pursuing their complaints and getting redress, said he, quoting AI's 2008 Report. According to the director of the medical center rehabilitating the torture victims ”Memoria”, Ludmila Popovici, the detainees often spend long periods in precarious conditions, while the shortage of resources and the pressure they subjected to by probing officers willing to send as many as possible files to courts makes them pluck confessions by using force. According to official statistics, there are 9,000 people jailed in Moldova. The NGOs dealing with this subject say a number of criminal proceedings have been heard in courts against law-enforcers practicing torture or other inhumane and degrading punishments, which is appreciated to be a positive thing. They welcome the constitution of the Advisory Council against Torture within the Moldovan Human Rights Center in April 2008 and call on its members and ombudsmen to cooperate with human rights defending NGOs to efficiently fight the phenomenon. “The Advisory Council will compile reports and recommendations, but it is not known whether the authorities are willing to apply them to eradicate torture,” is the concern of the president of “Lawyers for Human Rights” NGO, Vitalie Nagacevschi. The Anti-Torture UN Day is marked on June 26. The clause of ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and its implementation was provided in the Moldova-EU Action Plan. The members of the Advisory Council against Torture are 10 civil society representatives and one ombudsman. In the case Victor Savitchi vs. Moldova, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the police subjected the plaintiff – a former policeman himself – to inhumane and degrading treatment while being in custody for allegedly taking bribe in 2000. The ECHR obliged the Government to pay the plaintiff 6,000 euros in damages for moral prejudices and 2,000 euros for court proceedings.