"The
government is not abiding by the Strasbourg ruling - we haven't
had the compensation and we haven't been registered. They're
not in any hurry," Father Andrei (Caramaleu), the
assistant to Bessarabian Church leader Metropolitan Petru
(Paduraru), told Keston News Service from the Moldovan capital
Chisinau on 27 June. "The government is listening
more to Moscow than to Europe." Vitalie Parlog, a
justice ministry official who represented the government in
the case at the ECHR, admitted that the compensation should
have been paid by 27 June. "I know it is the last
day," he told Keston. He claimed that it was enough
that the government had taken the decision a week earlier
that compensation would be paid, although he did not know
when the money would be handed over. "The procedure
has already been established."
Under
the December 2001 ruling, the government was instructed to
pay the Bessarabian Church compensation of 27,025 Euros (24,400
US dollars or 16,800 British pounds) "for pecuniary
and non-pecuniary damage and for legal costs and expenses".
When the government's appeal against the ruling was rejected
on 27 March, the three month deadline for paying the compensation
began. Interest is chargeable on the compensation from 28
June - calculated at French interest rates - because it has
not been paid within the deadline.
An
official of the ECHR confirmed to Keston on 27 June from Strasbourg
that the deadline expired today and that interest now becomes
payable. "It's not uncommon for governments not to
pay compensation by the deadline, whether deliberately or
not," the official noted. "That's why the
court introduced the possibility of awarding interest as it
became clear that governments were failing to pay promptly
and applicants were losing out." The official noted
that the court itself does not supervise the execution of
judgments, which is the responsibility of the Council of Europe's
Directorate General of Human Rights. "They put questions
to the government concerned over what measures they have taken
to implement a judgment. They follow up on the nuts and bolts
of fulfilling a judgment."
The
official stressed that a government which has lost a case
at the court has the obligation to eliminate the causes of
the violation, whether by amending the law or otherwise. "That's
the purpose of the whole system. There have been very few
cases over the past forty years where governments have not
in the end taken steps to comply with judgments, however half-heartedly."
The
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a resolution
on 24 April which included a requirement that the Moldovan
authorities register the Bessarabian Church by 31 July. A
delegation of the European Commission and the Council of Europe
which ended a visit to Chisinau on 19 June urged that fulfilment
of this and other recommendations be speeded up.
Justice
Minister Ion Morei announced on 12 June that the government
would pay the compensation from its reserve fund. "We
are talking about those 27,025 euros in a leu equivalent,
7,025 euros for legal costs and 20,000 euros for damages," he said in remarks broadcast by the private station ProTV. "The government members unanimously passed this decision
today." The prime minister Vasile Tarlev endorsed
the payment of compensation publicly. "This is a court
decision and, as we have already confirmed, the government
has abided by an international decision," he said
in the same ProTV broadcast. "We have a clear mission
to integrate, to join European structures."
The
British-based lawyer who represented the Bessarabian Church
in Strasbourg, John Warwick Montgomery, said the delay appeared
to be the result of incompetence or intransigence, but was
optimistic the government would comply with the December ruling. "It is just a matter of time before they pay AND register
the Bessarabian Church," he told Keston on 27 June. "The government has too much to lose otherwise."
But
Bessarabian Church officials - who have been seeking registration
in vain for the past decade - remain suspicious of the government's
intentions. "The prime minister told a gathering of
priests and others in the town of Hincesti yesterday that
the government would not register the Church as doing so would
lead to civil war," Father Andrei reported. "It
is difficult to understand. The justice minister says one
thing and the prime minister says another."
Representatives
of the Moscow Patriarchate's branch in Moldova, which is led
by Metropolitan Vladimir (Cantarean), have repeatedly urged
the government not to register the rival Bessarabian Church,
which is under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The official newspaper Moldova Suverana published another
petition on 15 June from Metropolitan Vladimir, asking President
Vladimir Voronin to "resist the pressure of the West" and to oppose the recognition of the Bessarabian Church. The
metropolitan, backed by the synod whose members also put their
signatures under the petition, called for "Orthodox
unity" and "defence of the Church's interests
in Moldova." Another article in the same issue, signed
by a group of priests from Orhei Region, complained that any
recognition of the Bessarabian Church "undermines
the Orthodox faith."
There
have also been demonstrations in the streets of several towns
against any registration of the Bessarabian Church. On 14
June a demonstration in the northern town of Balti was attended
by some 800 people.
The
Bessarabian Church - with some 150 parishes and 85 priests
- is by far the largest faith in Moldova to be denied registration.
Other faiths that have had registration applications refused
include the Muslims, the True Orthodox Church and the Mormons.
