A Moldovan court has sentenced Evgenia Gutsul, the head of the Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia, to seven years in prison. According to the judges, Gutsul illegally used Russian money to finance a political party in Moldova.
The case concerns the "Shor" party of businessman Ilan Shor, which organizes protests against the country's pro-European government and supports the country's rapprochement with Russia. The party's former secretary, Svetlana Popan, also received a six-year sentence. Gutsul herself was elected governor of Gagauzia in 2023 by Shor's party, without any previous political experience.
Shor and Gutsul against Moldova's European future
Shor fled Moldova in 2019 after being found guilty of complicity in the largest banking fraud in Moldova's history, which caused about a billion dollars in damage to the country's banks. In 2024, he received Russian citizenship.
Shor continued to finance his party, which organized protests against Moldova's European integration and President Maia Sandu. In 2023, the Constitutional Court in Chisinau banned his party.
According to the country's prosecutor's office, Evgenia Gutsul systematically sent undeclared funds to Moldova in the period 2019-2022 to finance "Shor". She was found guilty of receiving $2.5 million from an “organized criminal group” to coordinate actions in different regions of the country.
Gutsul has visited Moscow many times. In 2024, she met with Putin and appealed to him for help against the “lawlessness of the Moldovan authorities.” Now she has sharply criticized the court’s decision: “This decision has nothing to do with justice,” Gutsul wrote. “This is political carnage.”
Kremlin supports Gutsul
Russia condemned the decision, calling it politically motivated. “We see how the opposition is being pressured in every possible way,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Gagauzia is a small autonomous region in Moldova with nearly 140,000 inhabitants. The head of the administration is called the Bashkan, which is Gutsul. Since October 2024, it has been sanctioned by the EU and the US for "promoting separatism" in the region and attempting to "undermine the constitutional order and threaten the sovereignty and independence of Moldova".
Last year, Moldovan authorities accused Ilan Shor of buying votes worth $39 million in the presidential elections and the referendum on EU accession that was held in the country. However, most Moldovans supported the country's integration into the Community.