The first court hearing in the case of Bashkan Yevgenia Guțul and a secretary of the Central Office of the former Shor Party, accused of intentionally accepting financing for the electoral contestant from an organized criminal group, was interrupted and will be resumed in a month. In front of the Buiucani Court of Chisinau City, supporters of the Bashkan gathered together and chanted “Victory!”, IPN reports.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) said that, during the preliminary hearing, one of the defendants wasn’t accompanied by a lawyer. This is a reason for postponing the hearing and the court therefore offered the defendant time to choose a lawyer.
Defendant Yevgenia Guțul asked to present the indictment in Russian and the court accepted this request. The prosecutors foresaw such a request and had ordered to translate the indictment into Russian.
“There is no evidence. I don’t admit any guilt. Today’s hearing was postponed until the end of May because I was not presented with the indictment in Russian,” Yevgenia Guțul told reporters when leaving the court.
The demonstrators who came together in front of the court included MPs of the new political bloc “Victory” that was created in Moscow and is led by Ilan Shor. They urged the judges to respect the law and take legal decisions. According to them, the Bashkan didn’t break the law and the purpose of these actions is to denigrate her before the presidential election.
The next hearing was scheduled for May 27, 11:30 a.m.
The evidence administered by the APO, the National Anticorruption Center and the Security and Intelligence Service covers the period between 2019 and 2022, when Yevgenia Guțul had worked as secretary of the Monitoring, Planning and Control Department of the party that was declared unconstitutional. Then, she purportedly was actively involved in the systematic introduction of illegal financial resources into the Republic of Moldova. The money allegedly came from an organized criminal group, mainly from the Russian Federation, through flights and land routes. The money was later integrated into the party’s activity in order to support its activity on the political arena in Moldova. On another charge, Yevgenia Guțul, as an accomplice, between October 2022 and November 2022, coordinated the activity of local offices of the former Shor Party in districts of the Republic of Moldova. She was responsible for checking, confirming lists and remunerating participants in protests organized by the outlawed party in front of public institutions in Chisinau – Parliament Building, Government Building, Presidential Palace, Prosecutor General’s Office, etc. Thus, she intentionally accepted financing for the political party from an organized criminal group in the total amount of about 42.5 million lei.
