{"id":1250,"date":"2025-08-05T14:05:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:50:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:50:38","slug":"democracy-being-trampled-in-moldova-kremlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/05\/democracy-being-trampled-in-moldova-kremlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy being trampled in Moldova \u2013 Kremlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moscow has slammed the sentencing of regional leader Evgenia Gutsul to seven years in prison on charges of illegally financing a Euroskeptic political party<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s sentencing of Moldovan regional leader Evgenia Gutsul is a politically motivated decision and an example of democracy being trampled in Moldova, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.<\/p>\n

Gutsul, elected head of EU-candidate Moldova\u2019s Gagauzia region, was sentenced by a Chisinau court to seven years in prison on charges of illegally financing the banned Euroskeptic SOR party. She has denied the allegations and called the case an attempt to eliminate opposition to Moldova\u2019s pro-Western government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly an example of a politically motivated decision, this is an example of attempts to exert blatant and, in fact, illegal pressure on political opponents during the election campaign,\u201d<\/em> Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n

He accused the Moldovan authorities of suppressing dissent, stating that \u201cthe opposition is being squeezed in every possible way in Moldova. In fact, people are being deprived of the opportunity to vote for those they prefer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe rules and norms of democracy are being trampled in every possible way now in this country,\u201d<\/em> Peskov added.<\/p>\n

Gutsul was elected head of Gagauzia, the autonomous and predominantly Russian and Turkic-speaking region in southern Moldova, after winning the 2023 election as a SOR candidate. She campaigned on promises of closer ties with Russia and opposed Moldovan President Maia Sandu\u2019s push for integration with the EU and NATO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\n \"FILE
Moldova jails Euroskeptic regional leader<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In March, she was detained over allegations of campaign financing violations and falsifying documents. Gutsul has maintained her innocence and appealed to both Russia and T\u00fcrkiye to apply pressure on the Moldovan government to defend Gagauzia\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

Moscow has repeatedly condemned the case against Gutsul. In July, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the prosecution an example of \u201cEuropean anti-values in action\u201d<\/em> and accused Brussels of turning Moldova into a \u201cliberal dictatorship.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The EU had previously sanctioned Gutsul for \u201cpromoting separatism,\u201d<\/em> maintaining \u201cclose ties with Russia,\u201d<\/em> and allegedly threatening Moldova\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Her prosecution has triggered street protests in the capital, Chisinau, with supporters describing the trial as a politically driven attempt to neutralize the opposition and accusing President Sandu of authoritarianism.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moscow has slammed the sentencing of regional leader Evgenia Gutsul to seven years in prison on charges of illegally financing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1252,"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\/1250"}],"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=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1253,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions\/1253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}