AFFAIRE V.P. c. RÉPUBLIQUE DE MOLDOVA

• Judgment Date: 06 September 2022
• ECLI: ECLI:CE:ECHR:2022:0906JUD002740216
• Counsel: CERNOLEV I.
• Date: 06 September 2022
• Application Number: 27402/16
• Court: Second Section Committee (European Court of Human Rights)
• Respondent State: Moldavia
• Applied Rules: 6;6+6-3-d;6-1;6-3-d

SECOND SECTION

CASE OF V.P. v. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

(Application no. 27402/16)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

6 September 2022

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of V.P. v. the Republic of Moldova,

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

Branko Lubarda, President,
Jovan Ilievski,
Diana Sârcu, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı, Section Registrar,

Having regard to:

the application (no. 27402/16) against the Republic of Moldova lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 27 April 2016 by a Moldovan national, V.P., born in 1979 and detained in Chișinău (“the applicant”) who was represented by Mr I. Cernolev, a lawyer practising in Chișinău;

the decision to give notice of the application to the Moldovan Government (“the Government”), represented by their Agent, Mr O. Rotari;

the decision not to have the applicant’s name disclosed;

the parties’ observations;

Having deliberated in private on 28 June 2022,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

1. The case concerns the applicant’s conviction in criminal proceedings without giving him the opportunity to call two important witnesses for the defence.

2. The applicant was accused of trafficking in children, namely that in 2011 he had contacted A.G. and had asked him to set up a meeting between him and two minor boys, N.C. and D.G., (the victims) aged fifteen and sixteen to have sex with them in exchange for money. According to the accusation, A.G. used to act as a pimp for the victims and to set them up with multiple clients. The applicant denied the accusation and explained that A.G...