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Most torture victims are afraid to speak up or appear on camera (File photo)CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - The regime in Moldova uses torture against political opponents. International human rights organizations are powerless against abuse by the Communist authorities.
Moldovan non-governmental organizations working in the human rights sphere are concerned about an alarmingly high increase in reported cases of torture in Moldova. This was revealed at a joint news conference held in Chisinau on Wednesday by Amnesty International, the "Memorial" Medical Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, and a number of other human rights groups and human rights lawyers.
The news conference participants said tortures are widely used in Moldova, and the number of persons treated brutally has been constantly growing.
Just one of the groups reported that in a single year, 2006, it received more than 800 complaints from Moldovans suffering abuse behind bars. While some of their complaints centered on inhuman living conditions, unedible food, and over-populated cells, the worst cases involved serious physical torture against inmates.
- 14 year reign of legal torture
Torture was legal in Moldova for 14 years, from 1991 to mid-2005. Despite being formally outlawed, it is still widely used by the authorities. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) report several cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees.
As Infotag reported, Vitalie Iordachi of the NGO Lawyers for Human Rights said that in 2006-2007, the European Court of Human Rights received from the Republic of Moldova 14 complaints concerning the use of torture. Such cases are the most expensive ones in the ECHR practice, and when the Court finds that a government is responsible for torture, compensation runs between 8 to 20 thousand euros per torture victim.
Memorial director Ludmila Popovici said that in 2000-2007 the Center provided a long-term assistance - 6 months to 3 years - to more than one thousand victims of political repression and of physical tortures in Moldova. Victims are often intimidated into silence and afraid to come forward with information about the tortures that they undergo in Moldova.
- International Day for Support to Torture Victims
The United Nations General Assembly declared June 26 as the International Day for Support to Torture Victims. The Declaration was ratified by 128-of-190 UN member states, including the Republic of Moldova. At the time that Moldova ratified the convention, torture was legal in the country.
Under the government of Vladimir Voronin, a former general who today leads the country's Communist Party, Moldova is increasingly turning into a police state. The former Soviet-era general is increasingly tightening his grip over the country. A report released last week by a U.S. State Department supported group, Freedom House, concluded that Moldova's President Voronin is "further consolidating his power over most aspects of Moldovan society."
In neighboring Pridnestrovie (or Transnistria, as it is called in Romanian) there are no reports of torture victims. Prisons are generally in bad shape, but torture does not take place inside them. Pridnestrovie has started a program to rehabilitate its prison facilities and recently received equipment from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, for use inside one of its prisons. (With information from Infotag)
See also:
» Torture victims in Moldova jail cells [1]
» Amnesty International warns of Moldova human rights abuses [2]
On the web:
» Moldova: Model to follow ... or human rights disaster? [3]