On 30-31 October 2018 over 30 judges and prosecutors participated in a training session on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the national legal order.
The event was organized under the Council of Europe Programme ”Promoting a human rights compliant justice system in the Republic of Moldova” in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice of the Republic of Moldova.
In 1997 the Republic of Moldova acceded to the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1997 over 13 400 applications have been registered and almost 400 judgments have been delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in cases against Moldova. Most of the violations related to non-enforcement of domestic judgments, ill-treatment and abuse in police custody and ineffective investigation into such events, excessive use of force by the police and poor conditions of detention. A high number of applications received by the European Court also speaks of low levels of trust in the national legal system and its functionality and of the lack of proper responses from local authorities.
The two-day event tackled the problem of application of the ECHR standards in the national legal system by consolidating the capacities of judges and prosecutors. The participants had the opportunity to understand the ECHR better and to discuss real cases related to the following subject areas: admissibility criteria which applications to the European Court of Human Rights must meet, types of complaints examined by the Court, the right to a fair trial and the right to privacy, the fight against torture and ill-treatment, the execution of judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights.
In addition to theory, a substantial part of this training was devoted to practical exercises, where participants applied the ECHR approaches within the national legislative framework.
The training aimed at fostering a better application of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the national legal order to further improve the delivery of justice in Moldova.
The Programme “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova” is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova for 2017-2020 and is funded by the Norwegian government.