Town of Moldava nad Bodvou (source: Sme)
A full seven years after Slovak police violently stormed a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a ruling that marks an important legal victory for Roma rights and against racist policing; some kind of justice for the individual claimants; and a triumph for the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, which deserves our congratulations.
Yesterday (September 1, 2020), the Strasbourg court ruled in the case of R.R. v. Slovakia that there has been substantive and procedural violations of Article 3, and a violation of Article 14; and awarded each of the applicants €20,000 in damages and €6,500 in costs.
It comes as no little irony that the judgement was delivered yesterday, when Slovakia celebrated Constitution Day (Deň Ústavy Slovenskej republiky), for there was little way of constitutional rights accorded to the Romani victims of this notorious police raid. Reading through this judgment left me with a bitter taste.
