Temporary detention: how long will Chisinau hold the Hutsul?

Chisinau's current actions against the head of Gagauzia, Yevgenia Gutsul, only demonstrate its vulnerability ahead of the parliamentary elections. On April 1, a court in the Moldovan capital rejected a request for her arrest for 30 days, but the prosecutor's office intends to challenge this decision. In addition, the Bashkan of the autonomy remains in prison, since it was previously decided to arrest her for 20 days in another case. The authorities will not be able to keep the politician for long without reason, experts tell Izvestia. Protests are now intensifying in the republic due to pressure on the opposition. Is it worth waiting for an escalation and how the international community reacts to the detention of Yevgenia Hutsul — in the Izvestia article.

Detention of the opposition in Moldova

On April 1, the Chisinau court rejected the prosecutors' request to arrest the head of the Gagauz Autonomy of Moldova, Evgenia Gutsul, for a period of 30 days in the second criminal case concerning the management of the electoral fund for the 2023 elections. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Moldova announced that it intends to appeal the court's decision.

The first case, in which Hutsul remains under arrest for 20 days, concerns the illegal financing of the opposition Shor party. Hutsul was detained on March 25 at the Chisinau airport, she was on her way to Istanbul. On April 2, the Appeals Chamber will hold a meeting on the case, which will decide whether Bashkan will be released or not. The head of the autonomy is being held in the 13th prison, which some local media call an institution with "inhumane conditions."

The April 1 hearing was accompanied by a rally outside the courthouse. Unrest in the republic due to pressure on the opposition as a whole has been observed since March 25. The protesters even gathered at the Moldovan Embassy in Moscow. Chisinau did not stop at the detention of the Bashkan of Gagauzia. The next day, at the airport of the capital of Moldova, the head of the Chance party, Alexei Lungu, received a summons to the national anti-corruption center. A couple of days later, on March 31, the Chisinau court sentenced Irina Lozovan, an opposition deputy from the Victory bloc, to six years in prison, and her husband to five years.

The rallies that are taking place in the country these days are not only related to the arrests that have taken place: farmers, railway workers, and teachers are taking to the streets. They are unhappy with low salaries and working conditions. The situation worsened this winter, when prices for gas and electricity rose sharply in Moldova after transit through Ukraine was stopped. The rating of the ruling party began to fall every month, but instead of solving the problems of the population, Chisinau chooses a line of pressure on the opposition.

First of all, Hutsul's arrest exposes vulnerability and awareness of this vulnerability by the Moldovan authorities, Nicole Bodisteanu, an analyst at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, tells Izvestia.

"Following the example of neighboring Romania, we can expect that opposition and dissent will be severely suppressed in the stronghold of liberal democracy — the European Union and all those who aspire to it," she says.

However, one should not expect a sharp escalation in the republic in the near future, the expert believes.

— Moldovans, who have been taught by the examples of previous years and neighboring countries, are protesting very cautiously and even innocuously in some places. Although we don't have to guess the results of the upcoming elections," she added.

Earlier, protests in the republic were suppressed quite harshly: in 2022, citizens took to the streets due to a sharp increase in gas prices, energy resources and high inflation. The situation was similar in 2023, when the opposition held rallies against the actions of Chisinau. In the summer of 2024, dozens of citizens were also detained at the Victory bloc rally.

Parliamentary elections in Moldova will be held in 2025. The exact date is still unknown, and the vote is expected to take place from July to October. In the run-up to the elections, the authorities will try to intimidate the opposition as much as possible.

— The Moldovan authorities can supposedly "flex their muscles" in front of the opposition on the eve of the elections. Of course, they cannot indefinitely keep Hutsuls in prison without strong legal grounds, but as a precautionary step towards any opposition, they will play this card for quite a long time," she noted.

International reaction to the arrest of Evgenia Hutsul

Earlier, the Bashkan of Gagauzia appealed to Vladimir Putin to influence the Moldovan authorities for her speedy release. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that the Kremlin had studied the Hutsul appeal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry linked the detention to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Moldova. "It is obvious to any unbiased observer that it is those Moldovan politicians and journalists who advocate building constructive relations with the Russian Federation who are under the most fierce pressure. Evgenia Hutsul is certainly one of them," said Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Hutsul also appealed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for support, saying that she expects him to protect the legitimate rights of the Gagauz people. There has been no official reaction from Ankara yet.

On March 31, Yevgenia Gutsul also addressed Donald Trump via the Telegram channel: "I ask Mr. President of the United States, as the leader of a superpower, for moral and political support. Your leadership can help prevent the situation from sliding into a new civil conflict and put an end to the escalation caused by the PAS regime (the ruling Action and Solidarity Party. — Ed.)". The response from Washington is still unknown.

There was no official reaction from Brussels either. However, this is to be expected: now the European Union is pursuing an aggressive policy on its "outskirts", where it is preparing for a long-term confrontation for influence in the region with the Russian Federation.

— Recently, we have seen a very interesting reaction from European officials and institutions to what is happening in Eastern Europe in the broadest sense of the word. In the current international situation and the particular turbulence in the region, the "inconvenient" EU authorities are not needed, says Nicole Bodisteanu.

Therefore, no assessments are being received, but rather tacit agreement is expressed with what happened in Romania and is now unfolding in Moldova.

From Europe, there is only a single reaction from some politicians. For example, the leader of the Bulgarian Vazrazhdane party, Kostadin Kostadinov, demanded an immediate reaction from his state in connection with the arrest of Hutsul. It was reported that the party also intends to request an opinion from the European Commission due to violations of minority rights.