Recently, the European Court of Human Rights has communicated to the governments of Republic of Moldova and Russian Federation the Casian case (18832/07).
The applicant, Petru Casian is a citizen of the Republic of Moldova and resident of Corjova village, a locality situated on the left bank of Nistru river which is under the administration of constitutional authorities.
In February 2008, his car was sequestered on the grounds of not leaving the transnistrian region before the expiry of the registration deadline from the so-called customs. The applicant was forced to pay a fine in order to recover his car. Although he requested help from the constitutional authorities, he received only formal replies by which he was told that his problem is impossible to solve.
Residents from the left bank of Nistru who own cars which are registered with the constitutional authorities are required to pay periodic “customs taxes” in the form of temporary import, which represents a violation of the right to free movement and affects ownership rights in various situations. The respective problems persist for several years, and lately they have a tendency to worsen.
In front of the High Court from Strasbourg, the applicant claimed the violation of Art. 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention for Human Rights and namely the restriction of the right to property ownership. Details here.
Before the court, the applicants are represented by the lawyers from the Promo-LEX Association.
For more details, contact: Ion Manole, Executive Director of Promo-LEX Association, tel: (22) 450024, GSM: 069070800, e-mail: [email protected]