European Court Condemns Moldova for Protester’s Death

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Tuesday ordered Moldova to pay compensation to the family of Valeriu Boboc, who was killed during the 'Twitter Revolution' of April 7-8, 2009, which helped to bring down the regime led by Communist President Vladimir Voronin.

"The court concludes that the use of force against Boboc was completely unprovoked and not imposed by circumstances," said the ECHR in its ruling.

Moldova was ordered pay 50,000 euros in damages and another 7,000 euros in costs and expenses to the family of Boboc, who died after being beaten up by police and became a symbol of victims of police violence during the anti-government protests.

On April 7, 2009, Boboc was peacefully protesting in the central square in Chisinau, when police officers ordered him and other protesters to lie down, and then started hitting them. During the beating, Boboc sustained severe injuries which led to his death.

The body of a man in his 30s was then discovered near the Municipal Clinical Emergency Hospital in Chisinau after being brought there by police officers, according to witnesses.

Doctors later identified him as Boboc. For several days, his relatives did not know what had happened to him.

The case of Boboc's death reached the ECHR in 2017 after his family exhausted all legal processes in domestic courts.

The only person convicted of his death so far is former police officer Ion Perju.

In 2009, he was an inspector with the Criminal Police and was accused of inflicting the fatal blow on Boboc. But although he was sentenced to ten years in prison, Perju managed to avoid jail.