Former Speaker of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia Dmitri Constantinov is no longer wanted after the Southern Court of Appeal overturned the decision ordering the measure. According to the court ruling, the authorities incorrectly applied the procedure, as the conviction is not final, with the case pending before the court of appeal, IPN reports.
The decision was issued by the panel of the Southern Court of Appeal in Comrat, which upheld the appeal lodged by Constantinov’s lawyer and overturned the ruling of the Comrat Court of 29 December 2025. The judges explained that a person may be declared wanted as a convicted person only after the sentence becomes final. In Constantinov’s case, the first-instance verdict was still under appeal, and the sentence enforcement procedure could not be applied.
In December 2025, the Comrat Court sentenced Dmitri Constantinov to 12 years in prison in a closed-type penitentiary in a case concerning the embezzlement of more than 46 million lei and abuse of office. The sentence was handed down in the defendant’s absence. Immediately after the verdict, police announced that he was not at home and asked the court to declare him wanted for the enforcement of the sentence. On 29 December 2025, the Comrat Court upheld the request, and Constantinov’s assets, including land and industrial buildings in Comrat, were seized.
Subsequently, the defence challenged the measure, arguing that Dmitri Constantinov did not yet have the legal status of a “finally convicted person”, as the law provides a 15-day period for appealing the sentence. Moreover, the lawyer argued that the appeal had already been lodged, meaning that the case was still under examination and the sentence could not be enforced.
The Southern Court of Appeal accepted the arguments, and the judges stated that, until the appeal is examined, Constantinov could possibly be searched for only as a defendant, in order to be brought to court hearings, and that such a procedure should have been initiated by prosecutors, not by the police. The next hearing in Constantinov’s case, concerning his 12-year prison sentence, is scheduled for 2 June.
