MP Tauber called Hutsul's arrest an attempt to influence the elections in Moldova.

The criminal prosecution of the head of Gagauzia, Evgenia Gutsul, is designed to clean up the political field of Moldova before the parliamentary elections to be held in the republic this year. This was stated on April 2 by Marina Tauber, deputy of the Moldovan parliament, executive secretary of the executive committee of the Pobeda opposition bloc, in an interview with Izvestia.

"These are unfair ways to win, they have already helped out <...> Europe, [the ruling party in Moldova] PAS and [the President of Moldova] more than once. Maya Sandu. The last presidential elections in 2024 <...> have shown that the ground is already slipping away from under their feet. That's probably why they decided to resort to extremely repressive measures," she said.

According to the politician, Sandu harbors hatred for Hutsuls and the whole of Gagauzia due to the fact that the autonomy almost unanimously voted against European integration and the candidacy of the current president in the elections. Now the Moldovan authorities are trying to humiliate the residents of Gagauzia and destroy their administrative entity.

In these circumstances, Tauber stressed the importance of international attention to political repression in Moldova. According to the MP, today Hutsul sent a request to the United Nations (UN), in addition, the opposition is waiting for a reaction from Turkey and the United States.

The parliamentarian expressed special gratitude to the Russian side. She noted Moscow's close attention to the situation in the republic and the words of support from a number of Russian officials.

"This is a very urgent situation. And in this case, immediate arrests of people who are involved in this (repression in Moldova. — Ed.) participate. We assure everyone that we will fight so that all these people will be punished one day," Tauber concluded.

Right of application: judges have left Evgenia Hutsul under arrest

What will the conflict between the authorities of Moldova and Gagauzia lead to?

Hutsul was detained at the Chisinau airport on March 25. According to the Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office, this happened after her name was found on the list of persons prohibited from leaving the country. The head of Gagauzia was charged with allegedly illegally financing the election campaign in 2023. On March 28, she was arrested for 20 days.

The Pobeda bloc, in turn, expressed categorical protest against the court's decision to keep the head of the Gagauz Autonomy in custody for 20 days and called it a planned step to increase pressure on the dissenters.