The People's Assembly of Gagauzia, an autonomous region in southern Moldova, voted on August 6 to reject a seven-year prison sentence handed down a day earlier by a Chisinau court against the region’s governor, Evghenia Gutsul, according to Infotag. The assembly, with 25 of 35 members in attendance, unanimously voted to keep Gutsul in office.

Gutsul, who also serves as secretary-general of the pro-Russian Pobeda (Victory) political bloc led by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, was convicted on August 5 in connection with the illegal financing of the now-banned Shor Party. The sentence includes a five-year ban on holding political office and is subject to appeal.

Gutsul has emerged in recent months as a key political figure representing Shor’s interests in Moldova. Under Moldovan law, should her conviction be upheld on appeal, elections would be required to appoint a new governor for the autonomous region.

In a statement issued after the vote, the People's Assembly declared that “the verdict and all previous actions of the central authorities of the Republic of Moldova in relation to the bashkan [governor]” represent an attack on Gagauzia’s special legal status as guaranteed by Moldova’s constitution and legislation.

“These actions are aimed at liquidating the autonomy and suppressing the will of the population,” the statement said.

The People's Assembly accused the central government in Chisinau of escalating tensions with Comrat, the capital of Gagauzia, and warned of further destabilisation. It appointed Ilia Uzun, the first deputy chairman of the Executive Committee, to lead the autonomy’s executive body in the interim and called on him to resist any interference from the central government.

The assembly also instructed the Executive Committee to provide legal and humanitarian support to Gutsul and her family during the appeals process.

Gutul had been a member of the technical staff in Shor’s party before unexpectedly winning the elections for the post of governor in Gagauzia on the party’s ticket in July 2023. As an outsider, she ran with the support of Ilan Shor after the party’s main candidate was invalidated. Her sentence regards actions from 2019-2022, before she became governor.

According to prosecutors, Guțul was actively involved in the systematic introduction of unaccounted money into Moldova, originating from an organised criminal group, mainly from the Russian Federation, by making air and land trips. Subsequently, according to prosecutors, the money was integrated into the party's activities.

On another charge, prosecutors claimed Gutsul coordinated the activity of territorial offices of the former Shor Party, being responsible for remunerating participants in the protests organised by the party in front of public institutions in Chișinău, the parliament, government, presidency and General Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutors mentioned that, through this activity, Guțul accepted over MDL42.4mn (€2mn) in financing from an organised criminal group for the Shor Party.