Amnesty Concerns for Moldova
Human Rights Abuses Remain Commonplace in Former Soviet State
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both criticised Moldovan authorities for their record on human rights.
A recent Amnesty International report has found that human rights abuses are commonplace in Moldova. Torture and ill treatment of people held in police custody is not unusual and the Moldovan government itself has acknowledged that basic international standards have not yet taken root in Moldovan society and throughout the state apparatus.
Amnesty International collected a number of disturbing case studies when collating this report. One citizen told how he had been tortured and beaten unconscious by police in an attempt to make him confess to phone theft. In another case study Amnesty heard from a woman who was allegedly tortured to extract a confession of stealing from her ex-husband. She states that she was deprived of oxygen and hung on a metal hat stand between two chairs whilst she was beaten.
Harassment of lawyers appears to be commonplace, particularly those who raise human rights issues. Amnesty is aware of lawyers being threatened with criminal prosecutions themselves for ‘misuse of official position’ when publicising information about human rights violations. There is also evidence that some opposition politicians have been harassed and intimidated for expressing political views contrary to the government line.
There are some more general concerns about the whole concept of freedom of expression in Moldova. Amnesty has also reported local and national government banning rallies and demonstrations. In one example, police detained all the demonstrators that had been campaigning for a statue in honour of a Romanian writer. Other human rights organisations have raised similar concerns – in a letter to the Moldovan President last year, Human Rights Watch called on authorities in the city of Chisinau to lift their ban on planned demonstrations by the community’s gay and lesbian activists. The vice-major of Chisinau had stated that the gay pride march would contradict Moldova’s Christian principles.
There is hope that things will improve. In February 2005, Moldova and the European Union agreed an action plan to bring Moldova closer to EU standards on ill treatment of prisoners and torture, and the Moldovan government has adopted a Human Rights Action Plan to develop standards in this area. Also, legislation finally abolishing the death penalty in even exceptional cases was ratified in June 2007. Moldova has aspirations of future integration into the EU and this should further accelerate government efforts to improve on its human rights record.
