Background
The Christian Democratic People’s Party (CDPP) is a political party from Moldova. In 2001 – when the CDPP was in opposition – the Communist Party government announced that it intended to make Russian language compulsory in schools. This caused heated public debate.
In response, the CDPP organised regular political gatherings calling for early political elections, European democratic values and democratic dialogue.
The Ministry of Justice banned the gatherings, and the ban was upheld by the country’s courts. Following an intervention by the Council of Europe’s Secretary General, the ban was later lifted – but only after it had been in place for three weeks.