Moldovan courts have sentenced Kremlin-friendly regional politicians to seven years in prison for raising money from Russia to fund political parties.
Evgenia Gatul, the leader of Gagausia, a historically pro-Lucia ethnic region in southern Moldova, was detained in March on suspicion of election fraud and was sentenced on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said between 2019 and 2022 Gatul led undeclared funds to the country to fund a political party founded by Iranian Shoal, Reuters reported. The shawl is A Russian businessman who was convicted of fraud in Moldova and currently lives in exile.
Gatul’s conviction comes weeks before Moldovan votes in a key parliamentary election. In this election, Maia Sandhu, the pro-western president of former Soviet countries, hopes to maintain her majority rule.
Sandhu was re-elected as president last year with a vote held on the same day as the referendum to join the European Union. Both votes were undermined by the prosecutors saying it was a massive voting buying scheme formed by Shoal, who spent much of his time in Russia since being convicted of his role in the 2014 $1 billion theft from the Moldovan Bank.
Before the referendum, the Moldova National Police Chief said that around 130,000 citizens received a total of $15 million from SHOR in exchange for votes “no” or persuading others to do so. The police chief said it was “clear” that Russia was funding the plan. Moscow has denied interfering with Moldovan politics.
Gutul, former secretary of Shor’s currently banned party, was elected governor of Gagauzia in 2023.
Last year, Gatul was approved by the EU for actions that “destabilizes” Moldova and promotes separatism in her area.
Gatul denied the misconduct and argues that her prosecutor is politically motivated. In March, she wrote to Donald Trump, claiming that she, like the US president, was exposed to “promotional efforts and pressure from corrupt globalist elites.”
In response to Tuesday’s ruling, Gatul said he would appeal the verdict. She argued that it was an attempt to intimidate Gagausians “die to vote” for parties other than Sandhu’s actions and solidarity (PA).
“This decision has nothing to do with justice. It is political retaliation, planned and executed on orders from above,” she wrote in Telegram.
The Kremlin also argued that the verdict was politically motivated, and that Moldova systematically restrained the opposition.
“In reality, people are deprived of the opportunity to vote for those they like. Of course, what we’re seeing is a clear violation of the democratic rules and norms of this country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
Moldova’s parliamentary elections will take place on September 28th. Although Sandhu’s PAS won by a landslide in the final vote of 2021, Moldova has since faced major economic and security challenges that have spilled out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sparked anti-government sentiment among parts of the country.
