Reports continued of prison conditions amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment;
impunity for torture and other ill-treatment; and unfair trials. Religious and other
minorities faced discrimination, in the absence of legislation to prevent it.
Conditions in pre-trial detention and during transfer between detention centres and
the courts frequently amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Vasilii Cristioglo was detained on 19 January in Comrat, charged with burglary, and
held from 21 January to the end of the year in pre-trial detention in Cahul. The
cell had a toilet in full view of the other detainees, and no bedding was provided.
Vasilii Cristioglo was forced to pay for blood tests when he suspected that he may
have contracted hepatitis. During transfer to and from the court, Vasilii Cristioglo
and other detainees were held in railway wagons for hours at a time over the summer
in high temperatures, and not given any food or water during the day. In response
to a complaint from his lawyer, the Cahul prosecutor admitted that hygiene regulations
were ignored; there were no provisions for refrigeration and preparation of food,
nor any facilities for washing dishes or for personal hygiene.
Trials against police officers accused of torture and other ill-treatment during post-election
demonstrations in April 2009 continued. On 2 March 2011, Valentin Zubic, former deputy
minister of the interior, was charged with misconduct in connection with the events.
A government representative told the UN Human Rights Council during the discussion
of Moldova at the Universal Periodic Review that there were 100 complaints following
the events, 57 of which resulted in formal investigations, 27 cases resulted in prosecutions,
and only two of those led to convictions.
On 27 October, two policemen accused of beating Anatol Matasaru during the events
in April 2009 were acquitted on appeal. They had been given suspended sentences earlier
in the year. Anatol Matasaru was detained on 8 April 2009 following the demonstrations,
and reported that he had been beaten by police officers at the General Police Station
in Chişinău and forced to lick their boots.
In its report to the UN Human Rights Council for the Universal Periodic Review, the
Parliamentary Advocates for Human Rights of Moldova (the Ombudsman) stated that 25
per cent of all complaints received by the Ombudsman concerned unfair trials. The
most frequent were failure to examine cases within a reasonable time, limited access
to a qualified lawyer, non-enforcement of court decisions, and violations of procedural
rules by courts. According to a survey conducted in May by the Institute for Public
Policies, only 1 per cent of respondents had complete confidence in the justice system,
and 42 per cent had no confidence at all.
On 3 November, Parliament approved an ambitious justice reform package for the court
system, police and prosecutors. Measures included increasing the efficiency and independence
of the judiciary; bringing the role of prosecutors into line with European standards;
improving legal aid; reducing corruption; and improving respect for human rights.
A draft law on discrimination was submitted to Parliament in February but had not
been approved by the end of the year. Opposition remained to a provision in the law
banning discrimination on the basis of sexual preference. The law failed to provide
for clear complaint mechanisms and adequate sanctions.
Religious minorities
In September, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief reported
that members of religious minorities faced intimidation and vandalism from followers
of the Orthodox Church. He criticized the 2007 Law on Religious Denominations for
according the Moldovan Orthodox Church “special importance and a leading role” which
had led to discrimination against other faiths.
In March, after over a decade of being refused registration, the Islamic League of
the Republic of Moldova was registered as a religious organization despite opposition
from the Orthodox Church.
The self-proclaimed Transdniestrian Republic remained a separate, but internationally
unrecognized, entity within Moldova.
On 5 February, Ernest Vardanean was pardoned by the President of Transdniestria. Ernest
Vardanean had been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for “treason in the form of
espionage” in 2010 after an unfair trial.
Ostap Popovschii was detained by police in Tiraspol on 29 June in connection with
drug crime. He was reportedly beaten by police on arrest to force him to sign a confession
for an offence that he claimed he had not committed, and beaten again to force him
to refuse a lawyer. He was denied medical care despite suffering from chronic bronchitis
and asthma. On 29 July, the court sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment. The pre-trial
detention conditions amounted to ill-treatment: the basement cell where he was held,
designed to accommodate six people, held 19 detainees without natural light or ventilation;
no bedding was provided and everyone slept on the concrete floor. Ostap Popovschii
had access to a shower twice a month. During asthma attacks, he was taken into the
corridor, but offered no medical assistance. At the end of the year he was in a prison
hospital, but medical care remained inadequate.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force for Moldova
in January. However, the State failed to ratify the accompanying Agreement on Privileges
and Immunities of the Court by the end of the year, and no steps had been taken to
bring national legislation into line with the statute’s provisions.
