After a year in detention, the unconstitutional Transnistrian authorities on February 9 sentenced Ilie Cazac from Bender to 14 years in prison for state treason and spying for Moldova. The young man's mother Stela Surchicean has told Info-Prim Neo that he found out about the sentence from the lawyer at about 7pm. She did not know details about the hearing. “My son does not deserve something like this. I still hoped that he will be set free. He is a sensible young man who did his job in Bender consciously. Why should somebody pay for certain political games?” she asked. The young man's family is desperate and does not know what to do and where to seek help. “We submitted a lot of applications and complaints to all kinds of institutions, but nobody did something,” said the woman. Ilie Cazac's parents made approaches to the Government of Moldova, the OSCE, the ECHR, the Russian Embassy in Moldova and even to the Transnistrian authorities. Last summer, they put up a tent in front of the Russian Embassy and went on hunger strike. They hoped Moscow could influence Tiraspol, but all their efforts were in vain. A former employee of the Bender Tax Inspectorate, Ilie Cazac was arrested in March 2010. The Government of Moldova issued a statement on the conviction of Ilie Cazac, saying the decision was illegal and unfounded. “This conviction represents defiance of the human rights and runs counter to the measures aimed at building confidence between the banks of the Nistru River. The executive condemns the behavior of the Transnistrian authorities that violated the right to legal assistance and to a fair trial. It called upon the mediators and observers to the 5+2 talks and the international organizations to intervene. On December 17, 2010, journalist Ernest Vardanyan was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment over the same charges.