The head of Gagauzia is isolated from Russia

On Wednesday, protests were held in the cities of Gagauzia against the 72-hour detention of the head of the autonomous entity, Yevgenia Hutsul. Her passport was seized at Chisinau airport and she was not allowed to leave the country. The Anti-Corruption Center (CBC) stated that Hutsul is on the list of persons who are prohibited from leaving the country because of the criminal case against her. Gagauz human rights activist Ivan Burguji told NG that the status of Bashkan would not be able to protect Hutsuls from judicial punishment, since the head of the autonomy does not have immunity by law. Dmitry Konstantinov, Chairman of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, said that the Moldovan authorities humiliate the autonomy itself in the face of Hutsuls.

The story of the Bashkan’s detention (chapter) The Gagauz autonomy of Evgenia Gutsul at the Chisinau airport is not a precedent, but one of many cases of pressure on her by the central government. Since 2023, when she won the elections and became the head of the autonomy, the Moldovan authorities began to implement a scenario to remove her from office, as well as to eliminate the autonomy, which voted for the Hutsul and against Maia Sandu during the presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova (RM) in 2024. President Maia Sandu did not introduce Hutsuls into the government, which is required by law, and for two years she has been explaining to the Gagauz people that their leader is involved in a criminal case, so let him sit on the “bench.”

As for the Hutsuls, so far the case has not moved beyond the courts, which go one after the other and end with the postponement of the meeting. Hutsul remains at large, but without the right to travel abroad and participate in the work of the government.

Dmitry Konstantinov, Chairman of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, commented on the detention of Evgenia Gutsul: “Sandu (the President of Moldova. – “NG”) opposes two peoples – Gagauz and Moldavian. Representatives of the central government openly say “Komratsky district” instead of “Gagauzia”. It is necessary to understand what goal they have set – to eliminate autonomy. We are trusted only to learn the language, sing and dance. They show us who is the boss here. They want to humiliate and disgrace the status of Bashkan. Deputies of the National Assembly are detained for 2-3 hours at customs offices.”

The speaker called a National Assembly on Wednesday, which adopted an appeal to diplomats accredited in Moldova so that they would pay attention to what is happening in the country.

According to the press secretary of the department, Angela Starinsky, the head of the region was detained as part of an open criminal case. Before that, she was not allowed to fly to Turkey, although, according to media reports, she had return tickets, the news portal reports. Gagauzinfo.MD Gutsul had previously flown to Moscow via Istanbul more than once, and, apparently, they decided to close this route for her, especially since parliamentary elections in Moldova in the summer, in which According to President Sandu, the Kremlin is going to intervene.

Former Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu expressed his opinion on this issue. Romanian politician considers unfounded accusations of his ties with Russia: “People who are small and limited in their education and thinking simply changed Trump’s name to Georgescu and made the same accusations. If we talk about interference, about influence, then let’s just remember that Moldovan President Maia Sandu openly interfered in our elections. She came here (to Romania. – “NG”), supported my opponent Elena Lasconi, didn’t she?”

In Gagauzia on Wednesday, voters went out to protest. One of the organizers of the protest, Mikhail Vlakh, noted that the head of the autonomy “practically lived” during interrogations and court sessions and did not ignore the summons. Therefore, law enforcement officers “had no reason” to detain Evgenia Hutsul. “If you shut down Bashkan, you can shut down anyone,” Mikhail Vlah said, stressing that Maia Sandu and PAS (the ruling party. – “NG”) want to “set Gagauzia on fire from the inside.”

Ilya Uzun, the first deputy head of the autonomy’s Executive Committee, noted that “the will of our Bashkan cannot be broken.” Moldovan parliament member Alexander Sukhodolsky called Maya Sandu a “pseudo-president” of Moldova who wants to “intimidate the country’s residents before the parliamentary elections.” However, in his opinion, “you shouldn’t joke with people, and you can’t move everyone.”

The Republican party Inima Moldovei considers the detention of Gagauz Bashkan Evgenia Gutsul as “a clear abuse of the ruling regime of Maya Sandu.”

Meanwhile, if the charges against Yevgenia Hutsul are proven, she faces from 2 to 7 years in prison, Gagauz human rights activist, chairman of the council of the Gagauz Khalki (Gagauz People) party Ivan Burguji told NG. According to him, the status of Bashkan will not be able to protect Hutsuls from judicial punishment, since according to the law, the head of the autonomy has no immunity. “In the law on the special status of the Gagauz Autonomy, there is no such thing as the immunity of the head of the ATO (autonomous territorial entity. – “NG”). With the criminal case brought against Bashkan, Yevgenia Hutsul will be able to perform her official duties until the court finds her guilty, convicts, sentences her to imprisonment and this sentence comes into force. Only then will it be possible to call new elections in the autonomy, and remove it from office. The Moldovan authorities cannot appoint someone else instead of her. This is the competence of Comrat (the capital of Gagauzia. – “NG”). According to the law, instead of bashkan, her duties (if necessary) the first deputy chairman of the executive committee (local government. – “NG”) autonomy,” said the Gagauz politician.

It is noteworthy that on March 24, Gagauz MPs met with the EU High Commissioner for National Minorities, Christoph Kamp, on his initiative. “During the conversation, we discussed the current difficult situation in cooperation between the central authorities of the Republic of Moldova and Gagauzia,” the press service of the National Assembly of the Autonomous Republic said. A day later, the Hutsul were detained. There was no reaction from the EU mission to the incident.