As a result of the unilateral actions of the Tiraspol administration, from March 2014, the access of farmers and enterprises from the villages: Doroțcaia, Pohrebea, Coșnița, Pârâta, Cocieri, Molovata Nouă and Roghi to the lands they own on the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol was limited.
According to a declaration of the Committee defending the rights of owners of land situated across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol, they relied on the support of constitutional authorities in solving the situation which has arisen, but the authorities exhibited indifference and impotence in solving this issue. Thus, starting with the mentioned period, the enterprises and farmers incurred expenses of tens of millions of lei.
The constitutional authorities are aware of this situation, but unfortunately are not contributing to solving this issue. The government promised to grant compensations to the farmers who incurred expenses in the process of working the lands, but this promise has remained only on paper, says Petru Leșan, farmer from Coșnița village, Dubăsari rayon.
Sergiu Crijancovschi, landowner from Pohrebea village, Dubăsari rayon said: “We are afraid that those 300 hectares of farmland situated across the route, representing 50% of the land in the property of the village’s residents, will pass into the ownership of enterprises from the transnistrian region. In the spring we had a parcel of land of 75 hectares prepared for sowing, and some unknown people came and sowed the land prepared by us. When asked who gave them permission to work the land, they referred to the administration from Dubăsari.”
The residents of Vasilievca village are in a very complicated situation, which according to Gheorghe Colun, farmer, is completely isolated, and from 11 September 2014, the land has been worked by foreign people with the authorization of the separatist administration.
The situation is equally as difficult in Doroțcaia village, where Vera Simionov, representative of the local landowners, says 91% of the lands are across the route, and if previously they still had the possibility of crossing over and working the land more or less openly, now representatives of the militia and other structures came and told them openly that they are not allowed to go there and almost forcibly evicted them, confiscating the agricultural machinery, which was subsequently recovered after some fines were paid.
Previously, the farmers reported several issues, like: the appearance of ditches dug along the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol to prevent the access of agricultural machinery to the fields across the route, and the illegal working of the lands by the Tiraspol administration.
We would like to remind you that at the beginning of 2013, the ECHR has informed Moldova and the Russian Federation about eight requests, which include the complaints of 1651 landowners from Dubăsari rayon, as well as three commercial agriculture companies. Observations on this case have already been sent, and the ECHR will make a decision in the near future.
The Promo-LEX Association has stressed time and time again the importance of full realization of the positive obligations of constitutional authorities in the case of landowners from Dubăsari rayon, by identifying some viable solutions for the thousands of legal owners of the lands, to ensure the possibility of unhindered working of these lands and the respect for ownership rights, declared Alexandru Postica, Director of the Program for Human Rights, Promo-LEX Association.
Considering the given situation, representatives of the Committee defending the rights of owners of land situated across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol declare that they reserve the right to block all unconstitutional customs houses on the Coșnița plateau until all requests of the farmers and enterprises who own land across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol will be heard and fulfilled.
Requests towards the constitutional authorities:
(Excerpts from the minutes from the meeting of landowners on 24.09.2014)
- Ensuring the access of farmers and enterprises to their properties located across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol.
- Urgent payment of the expenses incurred by the owners of the lands across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol in the process of working the lands, in amount of 13428.900 thousand (thirteen million four hundred twenty-eight thousand nine hundred) lei in accordance with law Nr. 182 from 25.07.2014.
- Compensating the missed profits for each hectare in amount of 2,500 lei.
- Meeting with the Prime Minister of Republic of Moldova in order to discuss the problem of the lands across the route Rîbnița-Tiraspol.
At the same time, an ultimatum was set for fulfilling the requests until 1 October 2014.
For more details, contact:
Alexandru Postica, Director of the Program for Human Rights, Promo-LEX Association. Tel: (22) 450024, GSM: 069104851, [email protected]
Pentru Bondari, landowner, Pohrebea village, Dubăsari rayon, GSM:079767509.