In Moldova, the head of Gagauzia Yevgenia Hutsul was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the case related to the illegal financing of the election campaign. About this informs Newsmaker.
According to the investigation materials, between 2019 and 2022, while working as a secretary in the banned pro-Russian party “Shor”, Hutsul regularly imported cash from Russia into the country. The total amount of such transfers exceeded 40 million lei (over 90 million hryvnias).
She was also charged with “knowingly receiving funds from an organized criminal group” in order to support party activities. Along with Hutsul, Svitlana Popan was also convicted in this case — she was sentenced to 6 years in prison for complicity in illegal financing.
The spokesman of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmytro Peskov, criticized the court’s decision, calling it politically motivated, and added that Moscow is “closely monitoring the situation” around Hutsul.
We will remind, on March 25, she was detained at Chisinau airport while trying to leave the country. The National Anti-Corruption Center reported that she is a figure in the investigation into the financing of the 2023 election campaign for the position of Bashkan, which is why she was subject to travel restrictions. After that, Hutsul turned to Putin with a request to influence the Moldovan authorities in order to achieve her release.
On March 28, the court ordered her to be detained for 20 days, but on April 9 it was changed to house arrest.
