Moldova: Illegal detention of torture victim: Eugen Fedoruc
Eugen Fedoruc has been arbitrarily detained for almost a year in a psychiatric hospital near Chişinău, Moldova, after alleging that he was tortured to force him to confess to murder. The doctors have now stated publicly that there is no reason to hold him.
UA: 235/12 Index: EUR 59/007/2012 Moldova Date: 7 August 2012
URGENT ACTION
ILLEGAL DETENTION OF TORTURE VICTIM
Eugen Fedoruc has been arbitrarily detained for almost a year in a psychiatric hospital
near Chişinău, Moldova, after alleging that he was tortured to force him to confess to
murder. The doctors have now stated publicly that there is no reason to hold him.
Eugen Fedoruc was first detained on 2 April 2011 in Buicani district of Chişinău in connection with four murders
that had taken place in September 2010. He was held at the General Commissariat of Police in Chisinau for 2
months, and claims that he was tortured several times during this period. He told his lawyer that police officers
bound his hands and legs together behind his back and lifted him up by a rope tied to his legs. They attached wires
to his legs, and the soles of his feet, and then turned a crank on the generator giving him intense electric shocks. A
forensic medical examination stated that the injuries on his body were self-inflicted. In April 2012 the General
Prosecutor’s office replied to Amnesty International that there was no evidence of torture having been inflicted.
In June 2011, after 60 days in police detention he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital for assessment by court
order for an initial period of 10 days. This was followed by a further court order for 60 days’ in-patient psychiatric
observation dated 13 July 2011. However, inexplicably the Director of the Psychiatric Hospital was sent a second
copy of the court order dated 13 July 2011, identical in all respects to the one sent to the lawyer, but giving no
expiration date. Eugen Fedoruc’s lawyer has challenged his detention in the Supreme Court and the Appeal court
on the basis that his detention expired on 11 September 2011 and that he has been arbitrarily detained since then.
On 8 May 2012 the Supreme Court rejected his appeal and on 12 June 2012 the Appeal Court also rejected the
appeal as unfounded. The courts have consistently referred to the second version of the court order which gives no
expiration date, and have not questioned the existence of two contradictory court orders. Eugen Fedoruc has been
diagnosed as suffering from Schizophrenia, but has never before required long periods of in-patient treatment and
has no history of violent behaviour. The Director of the Psychiatric Hospital told Eugen Fedoruc’s lawyer in June
2012 that he is calm and presents no threat, and that there is no reason for him to be held as an in-patient.
Please write immediately in Romanian or your own language:
Calling on the authorities to investigate the legality of Eugen Fedoruc’s continuing detention in Chişinău
Psychiatric Hospital;
Calling on the authorities to initiate an investigation into the allegations that Eugen Fedoruc was subjected to
torture and other ill-treatment at the General Police Commisariat in Chişinău, for two months starting in April
2011;
Reminding the authorities that as a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights and the
Convention against Torture, Moldova has an obligation to impartially investigate all allegations of torture and
other ill-treatment.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 18 SEPTEMBER 2012 TO:
Prosecutor General
Valeriu Zubco
str. Banulescu - Bodoni 26
Chisinau, MD 2005
Republica Moldova
Email: procuror@procuratura.md
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
Minister of Internal Affairs
Recean Dorin Pavel
bd. Ştefan cel Mare 75
Chişinău, MD 2012
Republica Moldova
Fax: +373 22 22 12 01 (say “fax”)
Email: dorin.recean@mai.gov.md
Salutation: Dear Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Health
Andrei Usatîi
Vasile Alecsandri 2
Chişinău, MD 2009
Republica Moldova
Fax: +373 22 72 97 47
Email: office@ms.gov.md
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
ILLEGAL DETENTION OF TORTURE VICTIM
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Eugen Fedoruc alleges that he was tortured on the second floor of the General Police Commisariat and that in the office where
he was interrogated there was a small generator. He also claimed that he was beaten and punched on the head, and that police
officers put a gas mask over his face and cut off the air supply to suffocate him. His lawyer saw him while he was at the General
Police Commisariat, and witnessed that he could not sit down, and had bruises on his wrists. The lawyer also asked him to
remove his shirt and he had bruises on his shoulders. In May 2011 his lawyer requested that a forensic medical examination be
carried out. The forensic expert concluded that Eugen Fedoruc’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Amnesty International raised the Eugen Fedoruc’s case with the Prosecutor General in April and received the reply that he was
legally detained and that there was no evidence of torture. Amnesty International has repeatedly raised the problem of torture
and other ill-treatment and impunity for such acts in Moldova. In its reports Amnesty International has highlighted systemic
problems and an entrenched culture among police officers in Moldova that hampered efforts to eradicate torture and other ill-
treatment in police detention. The Moldovan government has taken steps to address some of the structural causes of torture
and other ill-treatment, but it has not gone far enough to tackle the underlying problems of impunity and inadequate safeguards
for detainees.
As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and the European Convention for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Moldova has committed itself to eradicate torture and other ill-
treatment.
Name: Eugen Fedoruc
Gender m/f: M
UA: 235/12 Index: EUR 59/007/2012 Issue Date: 7 August 2012