The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has ruled to declare the SOR party, a prominent opposition party, unconstitutional. According to the Constitutional Court, any actions or administrative acts of this party adopted after the promulgation of the decision lose their legal significance. The organisation, whose leadership is accused of forming a criminal organisation, is to be dissolved. The European Court of Human Right Courts will now review the decision, it is reported.
On Monday, the ECHR heard arguments in the case brought by the Shor Party against Moldova. The court thereby ruled that, following a preliminary examination of the admissibility of the case,it would further review the case. The government of Moldova can submit arguments by July.
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) set to examine legal grounds surrounding Moldovan government ban on Shor Party, calls on country to address challenges posed ban on the oppositionhttps://t.co/spQekObwGd
— Daily Sabah (@DailySabah) March 12, 2024
Normally, most applications to the ECHR are dismissed without being examined. In 2020, a whopping 95% of cases were declared inadmissible.
In response, Marina Tauber, former vice-chair of the Shor Party, reacted to the ECHR decision:
“Open and fair elections are a key pillar in any democracy, and the Moldovan government’s ban on the party last year undermined those rights. We welcome the Court’s decision to approve the application and to hear the case.”
Ilan Shor, founder, namesake and leader of the party, has pledged that “several formulas for the continuation of the struggle” had already been identified. Shor, who now resides in Israel, has been was visited by several Moldovan MPs who have broken away from the Socialist Party. They declared that they wanted to revive an almost forgotten party, Renasterea (Rebirth).
Copyright picture: Harold, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons