Recently, the European Court for Human Rights communicated to the Government of Moldova the case Botnari v. Moldova (no.74441/14).
Viorica Botnari, a resident of Chisinau, was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer in 2003. In March 2010, the police arrested the applicant on charges of fraud and forged documents. According to the applicant’s account, she was detained in anti-sanitary conditions, in a cell without heating and drinking water, and received only one meal per day. During her detention, her treatment for cancer was interrupted, and she was not permitted a transfer to the hospital. One month later, Viorica Botnari was transferred to Penitentiary no. 13, where detention conditions remained inhuman. Although the applicant required continued treatment, she was detained in a cell with 16 persons, was subjected to passive smoking, in absence of a minimum of sanitary conditions and with very poor food.
The applicant’s health deteriorated rapidly as a result of her detention in inhuman conditions and suspension of her treatment. There was no oncologist in any of the two institutions where she was detained, and her chemotherapy sessions were suspended – she went through her last session in April 2013, when she was under home arrest.
Recall that, according to a report produced by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in collaboration with Promo-LEX: Torture and Ill Treatments in the Republic of Moldova, including its Transnistrian Region: Assumed Problems and Evaded Responsibilities, detention conditions in Moldovan penitentiaries, especially in Penitentiary no. 13, were classified inhuman and degrading. The report can be foundhere.
In her file submitted to the European Court for Human Rights, the applicant claims a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention, Prohibition of Torture, and Article 13, Right to Effective Remedy. Viorica Botnari is represented before the High Court by lawyers from the Promo-LEX Association.
Find more information on the cited case here.
For more details, contact: Alexandru Postica, Director of Human Rights Program of the Promo-LEX Association, tel: (022) 450-024, GSM: 069104851, [email protected].