Republic of Moldova

Council of Europe Office in Chisinau

On 17 May 2017 an expert meeting-discussion on the investigation of torture and ill-treatment cases was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe (CoE) project “Support to Criminal Justice Reforms in the Republic of Moldova”, funded by the Government of Denmark (CJR RM Project) in cooperation with the General Prosecution Office of the Republic of Moldova, in Chisinau.  

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the General Prosecution Office, leaded by Mr. Eduard Harunjen, the General Prosecutor, the Prosecution Office for Organised Crime and Special Cases, the Ministry of Justice (including Governmental Agent office), as well as Mr Eric Svanidze, the Council of Europe short term international consultant, Mrs Tatiana Cojocaru, the lawyer at the Council of Europe Department for the Execution of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Judgements, and the CJR RM Project team.

The event was the fallow up meeting to the “Report on Investigation of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Moldova” (Report) prepared under the CJR RM Project. The Report provides thorough analysis of the current legislation and institutional set-up with regard to the effective investigation of torture and deliberate ill-treatment cases, in the light of the on-going reforms of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS). It reveals possible issues that may rise during the investigation of torture and ill-treatment cases, as well as underlines the necessity to ensure the relevant methodological support and maintenance of uniform reporting and statistical data collection system vis-à-vis Council of Europe recommendations, ECtHR and CPT standards, providing practical recommendations/solutions to these issues.

In this context, the aim of the meeting was to discuss the issues pertaining to the modification of legislative, institutional and practical aspects of the investigation of torture, deliberate inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, deriving from the Report.

In his welcoming address the General Prosecutor Mr. Harunjen, welcomed the initiation of such discussion in the light of the on-going PPS reforms and underlined that the recommendations provided by the Report will be taken into consideration to further develop and fine-tune the existing regulations and practices. At the same time Mr. Harunjen presented the latest developments and changes introduced regarding effective investigation of torture and ill-treatment.

Mr Eric Svanidze emphasised the progress achieved by the Moldovan authorities in regard to effective investigation of torture and ill-treatment cases and presented the recommendations of the Report, as to further improvement of the existing system in line with the CoE standards and recommendations.

At the same time several issues were clarified during the constructive discussion, which provided clear understanding on procedural and practical arrangements related to the jurisdictional issues for investigation of torture and ill-treatment cases under the new institutional set-up.   

Moreover the meeting provided an opportunity to address the issue of the pending execution of some ECtHR judgments with respect to Moldova, and to agree on the follow-up cooperation actions to be carried out in this regard.

The event falls within one of the objectives of the CJR MD project: Institutional capacity for adopting regulatory guarantees, implementing strategies and action plans as well as monitoring functions aimed at preventing and ensuring remedial action in cases of ill-treatment developed.