CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 16 septembre 2009

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s598389F8 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:11pt } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA678F94A { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right; font-size:11pt } .s2E932ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:11pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4BAE41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s92A5AB2 { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .s99A63BFE { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:11pt } .s8A3CF084 { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt; font-size:11pt } .s624258FB { width:17.2pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s39D67136 { width:31.88pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s595A57E4 { width:85.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s11AD46B1 { font-family:Arial; font-size:7.33pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }   657 16.09.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   GRAND CHAMBER HEARING TĂNASE v. MOLDOVA   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber hearing today Wednesday 16 September 2009 at 9.15 a.m. in the case of Tănase v. Moldova (application no. 7/08). The case concerns the prohibition for Moldovans holding other citizenships to be elected to Parliament.   The hearing will be broadcast from 2.30 p.m. on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     The applicant   The case concerns an application brought by Alexandru Tănase and Dorin Chirtoacă, who are Moldovan and Romanian nationals who were born in 1971 and 1978 respectively and live in Chişinău. They are both well-known Moldovan politicians: Mr   Chirtoacă is Vice-President of the Liberal Party and Mayor of Chişinău; and, Mr   Tănase Vice-President of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the Chisinau Municipal Council.   Summary of the facts   The Republic of Moldova is situated on territory which used to be part of Romania before World War   II. That territory’s population lost its Romanian citizenship after annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940. Following Moldova’s declaration of independence in August 1991, a new law was adopted on Moldovan nationality. All those who had lived in the territory of the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic before annexation were proclaimed citizens of Moldova; as descendants of those persons, both applicants obtained Moldovan nationality.   In 1991 the Romanian Parliament also adopted a new law on citizenship: former Romanian nationals and their descendants who had lost their nationality before 1989 were allowed to re-acquire Romanian nationality. The applicants subsequently requested and obtained Romanian nationality, the restriction on Moldovan nationals holding other nationalities having been repealed in June 2003.   On 10 April 2008 the Moldovan Parliament reformed the electoral legislation, notably by introducing a ban on those with dual or multiple nationality from becoming members of Parliament (Law   no.   273). Other important amendments included the increasing of the electoral threshold and a ban on all forms of electoral blocks and coalitions. Those amendments were enacted and entered into force in May 2008.   Both the Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (“ECRI”) and the Venice Commission have expressed concern about those amendments to the Electoral Code. In particular, both bodies pointed out that the provisions of the new law were incompatible with the European Convention on Nationality, ratified by Moldova in November 1999.   It is estimated that between 95,000 and 300,000 Moldovans have obtained Romanian nationality between 1991 and 2001; in February 2007 some 800,000 Moldovans had applications pending for Romanian nationality. The most popular second nationality after Romanian is Russian; the Russian Ambassador to Moldova has recently stated that there were approximately 120,000 Moldovans with Russian passports.   Complaints   The applicants alleged, in particular, that the new electoral law was anti-democratic and breached their right to stand as candidates in free elections and to take their seats in Parliament if elected. Mr   Tănase further claimed that Law   no.   273 was part of the Communist Party’s larger plan to diminish the chances of the opposition in the forthcoming elections. The applicants relied on Article   3 of Protocol No.   1 (right to free elections) and Article   14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 27   December 2007. The Romanian Government was granted leave to intervene in the proceedings as a third party. In a judgment of 18   November 2008, the Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article   3 of Protocol No.   1 (right to free elections) concerning Mr   Tănase’s complaint that a new electoral law in Moldova breached his right to stand as a candidate in free elections and to take his seat in Parliament if elected. Under Article   41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded Mr   Tănase 3,860   euros   (EUR) in respect of costs and expenses. On 6   April 2009 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the Government’s request.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (France), President , Peer Lorenzen (Denmark), Françoise Tulkens (Belgium), Josep Casadevall (Andorra), Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portugal), Rait Maruste (Estonia), Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italy) Elisabeth Steiner (Austria), Dean Spielmann (Luxembourg), Sverre Erik Jebens (Norway), Ján Šikuta (Slovakia), Dragoljub Popović (Serbia), Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre (Monaco), Päivi Hirvelä (Finland), George Nicolaou (Cyprus), Zdravka Kalaydjieva (Bulgaria), Mihai Poalelungi (Moldova), judges , Corneliu Bîrsan (Romania), Renate Jaeger (Germany), Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenia), substitute judges , and also Michael O’Boyle , Deputy Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Moldovan Government :   Vladimir Grosu , Agent ;   Applicant :   Janeta Hanganu , Counsel ;   Romanian Government :   Răzvan-Horaţiu Radu , Agent ,   Horia Rogoveanu , Co-agent ,   Diana Tase , Ileana Popescu , Irina Cioponea , Advisers .     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date. [1]   Press contacts Stefano Piedimonte (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) or Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Céline Menu-Lange (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77) Frédéric Dolt (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 53 39)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.