6.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 7.  On 25 February 1999 the applicant was acquitted of a criminal offence. He initiated court proceedings against the Ministry of Finance claiming compensation for unlawful prosecution. 8.  On 5 May 2000 the Căuşeni District Court found in favour of the applicant and awarded him 951 Moldovan lei (MDL) (the equivalent of 84 euros (EUR) at the time) in compensation for pecuniary damage caused. The claim for compensation for non-pecuniary damage was rejected. 9.  On 6 July 2000 the Chişinău Tribunal awarded MDL 40,000 in compensation for non-pecuniary damage caused and upheld the District Court’s award in respect of pecuniary damage. 10.  On 21 November 2000 the Court of Appeal reduced the award for non-pecuniary damage to MDL 20,000 (the equivalent of EUR 1,917 at the time) and upheld the rest of the judgment. This judgment was final and enforceable. 11.  On 18 January 2001 the Prosecutor General requested the annulment of all previous judgments and the reduction of the award for non-pecuniary damage, as part of an extraordinary procedure. 12.  On 21 February 2001 the Supreme Court of Justice upheld the Prosecutor General’s request and annulled all the previous judgments. It adopted a new judgment whereby it reduced the award for non-pecuniary damage to MDL 2,000. 13.  That judgment was final and enforceable. It was enforced in August 2002 (the applicant received the equivalent of EUR 84 for pecuniary damage and EUR 150 in respect of non-pecuniary damage). 14.  The applicant submitted that Government decision no. 59 of 19 January 1998 (see paragraph 15 below) prohibited the forced execution of judgments against State property unless the Ministry of Finance had given its agreement. The Government have not commented on this statement.