Recently, the European Court of Human Rights notified the respondent Governments about the case Negruţa v. Moldova and Russia (no.3445/13).
Ghenadie Negruta is a citizen of Moldova, originally from district Grigoriopol. Between 2008 and 2011, he served as a senior investigator in the so-called prosecution office in Ribnita.
On 14 June 2011, while in Rezina, he was seized by several representatives of the Transnistrian militsia [police], who were helped by officers of the Moldovan National Anticorruption Center (at the time, CCECC).
According to the applicant, CNA officers assisted illegal militsia representatives in conducting all their criminal proceedings in accordance with the region’s “laws” in a locality controlled by the constitutional authorities. Moreover, they used physical force against the applicant at the time of his arrest.
After the applicant’s car was searched and seized, Ghenadie Negruţa was seized and placed in the basement of the preventive detention isolator of the police department in Tiraspol, and two days later, a Tiraspol “court” has decided to extend his arrest for an indefinite period.
In April 2012, the “supreme court” in Tiraspol sentenced Ghenadie Negruţa to 4 years and 6 months in prison.
The applicant’s wife filed several complaints seeking to identify the CNA officers involved in the illegal arrest of her husband. The Internal Security Department of the CNA informed her that the respective officers have been identified. According to the Rezina Prosecutor office, criminal proceedings against them were started in January 2013, however, to date, Ghenadie Negruţa’s wife was not informed on the developments in the case. Ghenadie Negruţa was released early in 2014.
In his complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, the applicant claims a violation of Articles 3 and 5 paragraph 1, and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the Convention. Ghenadie Negruţa is represented before the High Court by lawyers from the Promo-LEX Association.
More information on this case can be found on the website of the European Court of Human Rights.
For more details, contact: Alexandru Postica, Human Rights Program Director, Promo-LEX Association, tel: (022) 450-024, GSM: 069-104-851, email: [email protected].