Recently, the European Court of Human Rights informed the Governments of Moldova and the Russian Federation on eight applications that include complaints from 1651 owners of farmland in Dubasari as well as three farming companies. The applicants are residents and inhabitants of villages Dorotcaia, Pirita, Molovata-Noua, Pohrebea and Cocieri, situated on the left bank of the Nistru River, and own farmland in the vicinity of their villages.
The problem of farmland located on the other side of the Tiraspol-Dubasari-Ribnita road route first occurred in 1998 in several localities (Dorotcaia, Pirita, Cosnita, Cocieri), when the Transnistrian separatist regime installed illegal roadblocks on the Tiraspol-Ribnita road. The illegal installation of these blocks allowed representatives of the separatist regime to harass the applicants and try to seize those land lots during these years, which amounts to a continued violation of the applicants’ rights.
At the end of the farming season of 2004, applicants were denied access to their properties, incurring losses of tens of millions of lei. In early 2005, the farmland owners were stopped from working the land, bearing enormous losses again.
Thousands of Dubasari farmland owners protested in Chisinau, urging the Governments in Chisinau and Moscow to take action to observe the Moldovan-Russian Agreement of 21 July 1992, which guarantees free movement in this region of Moldova. Governments actions were insufficient to guarantee the full exercise of property rights, so many farmers and landowners filed complaints with the European Court.
At the Court, applicants allege a violation of Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in connection with the violation of the right of ownership or use of land shares, and of Article 13 in connection with the lack of an effective remedy at the national level in connection with violations of Article 1 of the European Convention.
The applicants are represented at the European Court of Human Rights by Promo-LEX lawyers and legal counsels.
More details on the statement of facts are available here.