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issued by the Registrar of the Court ECHR 376 (2012) 12.10.2012 Forthcoming Grand Chamber judgment concerning language policy adopted by the separatist regime in Transdniestria The European Court of Human Rights will be delivering a Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Catan and Others v. the Republic of Moldova and Russia (applications nos. 43370/04, 8252/05 and 18454/06) at a public hearing on 19 October 2012 at 11 a.m. � local time � in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg. The case concerns the complaint by children and parents from the Moldovan community in Transdniestria about the effects of a language policy adopted in 1992 and 1994 by the separatist regime forbidding the use of the Latin alphabet in schools and the subsequent measures taken to enforce the policy, including the forcible eviction of pupils and teachers from Moldovan/Romanian-language schools which used the Latin alphabet. Press releases and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court's Internet site (www.echr.coe.int) Principal facts and complaints The applicants are 170 Moldovan nationals who live in the "Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria" ("MRT"), a non-recognised separatist entity. In September 1992 the "MRT" adopted the "Law on languages", which stated that "Moldavian" � Moldovan/Romanian, one of the official languages within the "MRT" (the others being Russian and Ukrainian) - had to be written with the Cyrillic and not Latin alphabet. Failure to comply with that requirement was punishable as an administrative offence. In August 1994 the "MRT" authorities forbade the use of the Latin alphabet in schools and started requiring all schools to register and start using an "MRT"-approved curriculum and the Cyrillic alphabet. The "MRT" authorities then began taking steps to close down all schools using the Latin alphabet. The applicants are among the children who were studying at such schools, notably Evrica School in R�bnia, Alexandru cel Bun School in Tighina, Bender, and tefan cel Mare School in Grigoriopol, as well as their parents. They all complain that their schools were closed down in 2002 and 2004 and forced to reopen in different, inadequate premises lacking materials and often requiring a long journey to and from school. They also allege that those who chose to continue educating their children in Moldovan/Romanian-language schools were subjected to on-going harassment, intimidation and verbal abuse. They rely in particular on Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination). Procedure The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 20 December 2004, on 25 October 2004 and on 4 April 2006 respectively. A public hearing was held on 9 June 2009 and a Chamber of seven judges declared the case partly admissible on 15 June 2010. On 14 December 2010 the Chamber to which the case had been allocated relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber. A Grand Chamber hearing was held in public on 25 January 2012. This press release is a document produced by the Registry. It does not bind the Court. Decisions, judgments and further information about the Court can be found on www.echr.coe.int. To receive the Court's press releases, please subscribe here: www.echr.coe.int/RSS/en. Press contacts [email protected] | tel: +33 3 90 21 42 08 Tracey Turner-Tretz (tel: + 33 3 88 41 35 30) C�line Menu-Lange (tel: + 33 3 90 21 58 77) Nina Salomon (tel: + 33 3 90 21 49 79) Denis Lambert (tel: + 33 3 90 21 41 09) 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. 2