Communicated on 30 November 2015
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 65849/14
Tamara SCODINA
against the Republic of Moldova
lodged on 25 September 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. The applicant, Ms Tamara Scodina, is a Moldovan national, who was born in 1968 and lives in Chişinău. She is represented before the Court by Mr B. Malachi, a lawyer practising in Chișinău.
A. The circumstances of the case
2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
3. The applicant married V.S. in 1992. Their son was born in 1993.
4. On 22 January 2001 the Centru District Court in Chișinău convicted V.S. of inflicting injuries on the applicant and sentenced him to two years’ detention, suspended for a year. The court found that on 14 November 2000 he had hit and kicked the applicant, breaking her jaw.
5. On 23 July 2004 the applicant divorced V.S., who continued to live in their common apartment. He also continued beating the applicant.
6. On 19 September 2013 the Centru District Court in Chișinău accepted a request by the Centru Police Station and issued a protection order in the applicant’s favour. It ordered V.S. to temporarily leave the common apartment and not to approach the applicant or visit her place of work. Nothing was apparently done to enforce this order.
7. On 31 January 2014 the Centru District Court in Chișinău accepted the request for a protection order lodged by the applicant and her son. It gave instructions similar to those in its order of 19 September 2013. It appears that V.S. continued living in the common apartment despite the order.
8. On 19 May 2014 the Centru District Court in Chișinău convicted V.S. of violence against the applicant. The court referred to 17 different occurrences of such violence, registered in complaints to the police. V.S. was ordered to perform unremunerated community work. The applicant’s appeal was rejected by the Chișinău Court of Appeal on 11 September 2014.
9. On 27 June 2014 the applicant asked the Centru Police Station to inform her of the actions taken with a view to enforcing the orders of 19 September 2013 and 31 January 2014. It is unclear whether she received a reply.
10. On 8 July 2014 V.S. again beat up the applicant in their apartment. On 9 July 2014 she was examined by a forensic expert. On 10 July 2014 she submitted the report to the Centru Police Station. On 14 July 2014 she asked for a new protection order from the Centru District Court in Chișinău. This was accepted on the same day. However, V.S. continued living in the common apartment.
11. On 24 July 2014 the Centru Police Station informed the applicant that V.S. had been sanctioned administratively for causing light injuries.
12. On 12 November 2014 the applicant asked for a protection order after she had been beaten by V.S. in their apartment. A forensic report of 13 November 2014 found that she had suffered light injuries, as evidenced by a haematoma and a bruise on her left arm. On 14 November 2014 the Centru District Court in Chișinău accepted the request and ordered V.S. to leave the apartment and to avoid any contact with the applicant. It is unclear whether this protection order was enforced.
B. Relevant materials
The relevant provisions of domestic law and the relevant international materials have been summarised in the case of Eremia v. the Republic of Moldova (no. 3564/11, §§ 29-37, 28 May 2013).
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that the authorities have failed to fulfil their positive obligations to offer protection from domestic violence and have applyied mild sanctions to the aggressor.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention? In particular, did the authorities discharge their positive obligations under this provision to protect the applicant from domestic violence and to effectively prosecute the person responsible for such violence (see Eremia v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 3564/11, §§ 38-66, 28 May 2013, Mudric v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 74839/10, §§ 31-55, 16 July 2013 and B. v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 61382/09, §§ 31-61, 16 July 2013)?
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