EU candidate’s pro-Western government detains autonomous area`s chief

(MENAFN) Yevgenia Gutsul, a prominent critic of Moldova’s pro-Western government and leader of the autonomous Gagauzia region, has denounced her arrest on what she claims are fabricated criminal charges. Gutsul was detained on Tuesday evening at Chisinau’s international airport, with Moldovan authorities stating that she was on a wanted list. In a statement released through her lawyers on Thursday, she accused the government of attempting to undermine Gagauzia’s autonomy by targeting her administration with false legal claims.

Gutsul expressed that her arrest was part of a broader plan by Moldova’s ruling party, PAS, to dismantle the autonomy of Gagauzia. "This arrest is not a personal attack. It’s part of Chisinau’s grand plan to destroy our autonomy," she stated. She also accused law enforcement, controlled by the ruling party, of pressuring her for two years with unfounded criminal cases.

Moldovan media reports suggest Gutsul’s arrest is related to an investigation into her 2023 gubernatorial election victory in Gagauzia, which is under scrutiny for alleged financial irregularities. The Moldovan government has claimed that Gutsul is linked to a Russian influence operation aimed at destabilizing Moldova’s EU membership bid. Gagauzia, a primarily Orthodox Christian and Turkic-speaking ethnic region in southern Moldova, enjoys broad self-governance rights. Moldovan President Maia Sandu has questioned Gutsul’s legitimacy as governor and condemned her former political party, ‘Shor,’ as a “criminal organization,” which was banned by a Chisinau court in 2023.

Gutsul has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to intervene on behalf of Gagauzia’s autonomy. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the arrest, accusing Chisinau of disregarding democratic principles and applying political pressure on rivals. Peskov compared Moldova’s actions to those of Romania, where a recent election outcome was overturned amid allegations of Russian interference, which were later questioned as possibly being politically motivated by the ruling party.

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