European Court Orders Moldova To Pay German Firm

CHISINAU -- The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Moldova should pay 7 million euros ($8.75 million) to the German company Unistar Ventures to compensate it for Chisinau's decision to close a joint venture.

Judge Tudor Popovici, of Moldova's Supreme Court of Justice, told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service that Moldova has lost 124 cases at the ECHR in the last several years.

Popovici added that this large list of lost cases at the European Court is the result of the country's judges being "overloaded with work" and that Moldova's legislation is still imperfect.

But he said that the current reforms being made to Moldova's judicial system will pay off in five to seven years.