Moldovan law considers the situation to be a contravention where the offense is less serious than a crime. Hate crimes may also take the form of a contravention.
Aggravating circumstances
In Moldova, the Contraventions Code establishes that any contravention committed with a biased motive towards an individual or a group due to the victim’s race, nationality, religion or other clearly determinable characteristics is considered to have aggravating circumstances. This means that due to the committed hate crime, the person is charged with a contravention, but during the trial the court should take into account the aggravating circumstances, namely, the bias motive, when adopting the decision. In general, aggravating circumstances can be applied to all contraventions, established in the Contraventions Code.
Read more about the right to a fair trial in contravention proceedings.
Request for compensation during trial
You can request compensation from the perpetrator of the hate crime by lodging a civil claim, as set out in the Civil Procedure Code. When deciding over the contravention case, the competent authority may, at the request of the victim, order the compensation of the damage caused by the contravention if there is no disagreement on its extent.
Read more about civil claim and civil liability.