The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favour of GENDERDOC-M in a case concerning attacks on the organisation’s 2014 march, One Year Without Discrimination. The Court found that Moldovan authorities had failed to effectively investigate the actions of counter-protesters and their homophobic motives, allowing those responsible to escape accountability.
In a unanimous decision, the Court found a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 11 (freedom of assembly) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judgment is final.
On 17 May 2014, during the International Day Against Homophobia, GENDERDOC-M organised a march in Chișinău. Despite police protection, counter-protesters disrupted the event, shouted homophobic insults and threatened participants. One of them, an Orthodox priest, violently took and tore a rainbow flag from an organiser’s hands.
Although GENDERDOC-M filed criminal complaints, prosecutors reclassified the acts as misdemeanours after the deadline for administrative sanctions had expired, while failing to investigate the homophobic motive or examine available media footage, effectively allowing those responsible to escape accountability.
The Court also made a decision to compensate GENDERDOC-M for moral damages and legal costs.
The Eastern European Coalition for LGBT+ Equality welcomes the ECHR judgment, which exposes the failure of Moldovan authorities to properly investigate anti-LGBT+ incidents and ensure accountability. It sends a clear message: institutional failures cannot be erased by time, and even years later, authorities can be held accountable.
Angelica Frolov, director of GENDERDOC-M organization
This judgment is yet another reminder that impunity for homophobic violence is not just a problem for the LGBT+ community, but for society as a whole. The European Court of Human Rights found that the prosecution authorities had failed to properly investigate the attacks and had allowed the perpetrators to escape all accountability. Twelve years later, justice has been delivered, but the perpetrators remain unpunished, while taxpayers are left to pay for the failures of state institutions.