{"id":1230,"date":"2025-08-05T18:50:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:50:37","slug":"elected-thats-cute-now-go-to-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/05\/elected-thats-cute-now-go-to-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Elected? That\u2019s cute. Now go to jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Moldova turned a regional mandate into a prison sentence \u2013 all in the name of \u2018European values\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 5, 2025, the drawn-out political struggle between Moldova\u2019s central authorities and the elected leadership of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia reached its apogee when the leader of Gagauzia, Evgenia Gutsul, was sentenced to seven years in prison for \u201cillegal financing\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the Euroskeptic SOR Party. The verdict didn\u2019t surprise those who have been closely monitoring the situation in Moldova over the past two years. It was the inevitable next step in President Maia Sandu\u2019s campaign to eliminate all political rivals \u2013 especially those whose authority extends beyond the grasp of Chisinau and its overseer, Brussels.<\/p>\n

Sandu has never concealed her disdain for Gutsul. As early as November 2023, she declared that she would not sign a decree to include Gutsul in the national government, citing supposed ties to a \u201ccriminal group.\u201d<\/em> No evidence was ever presented. In fact, international observers confirmed the transparency and legitimacy of the elections in Gagauzia. But that did not stop the crackdown.<\/p>\n

It is abundantly clear that Gutsul\u2019s imprisonment is politically motivated. The administration seeks to sideline\u00a0her from public life, discredit her, and erase her name from public memory in Gagauzia and beyond. The seven-year sentence is not just about one woman. It is a signal, a warning, a political message: Any challenge to centralized authority will be met with brutal repression.<\/p>\n

Of course, the problem isn\u2019t just Sandu\u2019s personal dislike of Gutsul. Gagauzia may be small, but it is geopolitically significant. It is an autonomous entity with legislative and executive powers, granted through a historic compromise in 1994 brokered with the involvement of Russia and T\u00fcrkiye. Gagauzia remains a living reminder of Moldova\u2019s multiethnic character \u2013 and of alternative centers of power within the state.<\/p>\n

Strategically, the region borders Ukraine\u2019s Odessa Region and lies near Danube ports that serve as logistical arteries for military cargo moving from Romania and the EU toward the Ukrainian front. In this context, Gagauzia\u2019s political sympathies leaning toward Moscow and her pursuit of balanced relations with Russia are viewed by Chisinau as a threat \u2013 not just to internal cohesion but to Moldova\u2019s broader alignment with NATO and the EU.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"President
After Ukraine, is this country the West\u2019s next project?<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sandu\u2019s administration understands this. Undermining Gagauzia\u2019s autonomous status is a long-term strategic goal. Removing a legitimate, democratically elected leader like Gutsul is the first step toward dissolving regional self-rule and folding Gagauzia into a rigid, unitary model of governance where dissent is treated as sedition and identity as insubordination.<\/p>\n

Evgenia Gutsul\u2019s political career began in 2018 with her involvement in the SOR Party, founded by businessman Ilan Shor. Starting as a consultant and rising to party secretary, she quickly emerged as one of the few Moldovan politicians openly promoting an alternative development path based on cooperation with Russia and skepticism toward EU-centric dogma.<\/p>\n

Her victory in the 2023 election for Bashkan (head) of Gagauzia was more than a regional mandate \u2013 it was a referendum on Moldova\u2019s future. And the people of Gagauzia chose sovereignty, identity, and dialogue with the East.<\/p>\n

In March 2024, Gutsul traveled to Russia and met with President Vladimir Putin. It was a symbolic and strategic act \u2013 a demonstration of a foreign policy rooted in multipolarity, not subservience. In response, Sandu once again refused to acknowledge Gutsul\u2019s legal mandate by denying her integration into the national governance framework \u2013 a blatant violation of constitutional principles and a provocation that further destabilized relations between Chisinau and Comrat.<\/p>\n

Brussels remained silent. Rather than uphold democratic norms, the EU launched coordinated media attacks, branding the SOR Party \u2013 and by extension Gutsul \u2013 as a \u201ccriminal structure.\u201d<\/em> No due process, no presumption of innocence. Just ideological execution under the pretense of liberal legality.<\/p>\n

The threats did not come from fringe elements but from the very heart of state power. Prime Minister Dorin Recean publicly called for the prosecution of all members of the SOR Party, including Gutsul herself. These are not offhand remarks. They represent a system in which justice has become a tool of political revenge, where courts serve electoral strategy and prisons silence unwanted voices.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"President
She\u2019s an awful president but at least the gays like her<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gutsul\u2019s \u2018crime\u2019 is not legal \u2013 it is political. She has exposed budgetary discrimination against Gagauzia, challenged violations of the region\u2019s self-governance, and proposed direct negotiations with Gazprom on preferential energy supplies. In other words, she did what any responsible leader would: Protect her constituents from the economic chaos and ideological tunnel vision imposed by the central government.<\/p>\n

This is what makes her dangerous. Not just to Sandu, but to the entire model of governance imported from Brussels \u2013 centralized, intolerant, and contemptuous of internal diversity. Since 2021, Sandu has distanced Moldova from Russia, but her domestic record remains dismal. With reforms stalled and public trust eroding, her regime is now clinging to power not through vision or leadership \u2013 but through purges.<\/p>\n

The 2024 presidential election showed exactly how. Sandu\u2019s reelection was secured by votes from the Western diaspora. Meanwhile, millions of Moldovans living in Russia and Belarus were effectively disenfranchised \u2013 with just two or three polling stations for an entire population abroad. This isn\u2019t oversight. It\u2019s a strategy of exclusion. And it casts a long shadow over the legitimacy of Sandu\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

As the parliamentary elections approach, the authoritarian reflex intensifies. The Central Electoral Commission rapidly greenlit Sandu\u2019s PAS party while obstructing opposition forces. Most notably, the Victory Bloc \u2013 founded in April 2024 with the participation of Shor and Gutsul and aimed at uniting fragmented opposition forces both within Moldova and among the diaspora \u2013 was denied registration. The decision triggered public backlash, but the goal was achieved: Silence the opposition before the campaign even begins.<\/p>\n

This is no isolated case. Former President Igor Dodon\u2019s party was registered \u2013 but faces a relentless disinformation campaign led by Western-funded media outlets. The aim is clear: Discredit, delegitimize, disqualify. Moldova is becoming a textbook example of soft dictatorship, where elections exist but real choice is eliminated.<\/p>\n

The legal assault on Gutsul is not about law. It\u2019s about fear. Gutsul is a serious political contender with national reach. Many saw her as a possible challenger in the 2028 presidential elections. And that is precisely why the regime has decided she must be removed \u2013 by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

Sandu\u2019s actions are part of a broader campaign to monopolize the political space. With the economy stagnant and reform promises unfulfilled, repression has become the only reliable tool of control. The prosecution of Gutsul is not a defense of democracy \u2013 it is its final betrayal.<\/p>\n

If today Gutsul stands convicted, tomorrow the very idea of autonomy will be under threat. And the day after that, the Republic of Moldova itself may vanish into a faceless appendage of euro-integrative absolutism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Moldova turned a regional mandate into a prison sentence \u2013 all in the name of \u2018European values\u2019 On August […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}