The situation in Gagauzia is rapidly heating up — Chisinau is pulling together the security forces

The detention by the Moldovan authorities of the head of the Gagauz Autonomy (Bashkan) Yevgenia Hutsul caused protests in the region, this is undisguised pressure on the opposition. This was announced today, March 26, by her deputy Viktor Petrov, suggesting that this could be followed by the arrests of other opposition politicians.

Now in Comrat (the capital of the autonomy), the Chisinau authorities are pulling in additional police forces.

"On the eve of the parliamentary elections, the Action and Solidarity Party (PDS — the ruling presidential party) is clearing its way, thus, having cleared their political field from the opposition, they want to secure victory for themselves," Petrov is sure.

He added that the incident is a serious precedent that requires the assessment of international organizations and Russia. Petrov stressed that in the history of modern Moldova there has never been a case of the head of Gagauzia being detained.

In Gagauzia itself, the situation is rapidly heating up. A rally in support of Hutsul is planned in Comrat, which will be attended by politicians and public figures of the region. The central authorities have sent additional police forces there.

"I think the city will be blocked. Measures are being taken by the PDS regime, the situation is heating up," Viktor Petrov confirmed.

As EADaily reported, the head of the Gagauz autonomy, Yevgenia Hutsul, was detained by employees of the National Anti-Corruption Center (NCBC) on the evening of March 25 at the Chisinau airport while trying to fly out of the country. The opposition politician was placed under preliminary arrest for 72 hours as part of a criminal case related to "fraudulent management of election funds, illegal financing and forgery of documents for the 2023 elections."

It is specified that in the near future prosecutors will charge the detainee and file a petition to the court for her preventive arrest. The prosecutor's office noted that Yevgenia Hutsul had the status of "wanted" at the time of her detention and was forbidden to leave the country.

Earlier, Hutsul adviser Yuri Kuznetsov said that she was supposed to fly to Istanbul at the invitation of the International Journalistic Congress. Hutsul also planned to discuss important issues for autonomy in Turkey.

Recall, on the eve of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Moldova announced the completion of the presentation of evidence in support of the accusation of the head (Bashkan) of Gagauzia Evgenia Hutsul and secretary of the Central Office of the former political party "Shor" (declared unconstitutional) Svetlana Popan "complicity in the illegal financing of a political party and a competitor in the elections by an organized criminal group." The criminal case includes 68 volumes, it was submitted to the court in April 2024. Further, the defense evidence will be presented to the court for consideration.

The central authorities of Moldova refused to recognize Evgenia Hutsul as the legitimately elected head of the autonomy because of her desire to strengthen relations with Russia and criticism of European integration. At first there were attempts to cancel the results of the vote, and then to put pressure on the deputies of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia not to approve the new executive committee. However, they were not successful. Then, by order of Moldovan President Maia Sandu, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office began criminal prosecution of Bashkan.