We must make sure that the examples of treason are harshly penalized, according to the law. This is the reaction of the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu after the head of the Parliament’s Legal Department Ion Creangă was detained on Wednesday while providing information to an employee of the Embassy of the Russian Federation. The head of state said that the responsible institutions must act to prevent the phenomenon of treason and, if such cases occur, they must be severely punished to discourage others from acting contrary to the interests of the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports.
Yesterday, PCCOCS prosecutors announced the detention of two employees, of the Parliament’s Secretariat and the Border Police, who are suspected of treason and plotting against the Republic of Moldova in their communication with the employee of an embassy based in Chisinau. No names were given, but it later became known that the head of the Parliament’s Legal Department Ion Creangă was also involved. According to the law enforcement agencies, it happened starting with 2023. President Maia Sandu expressed hope that this case will have an end result.
“Unfortunately, such things happen. It happens not only in the Republic of Moldova. In the Republic of Moldova, there has not been a serious attitude over time because we had politicians at the helm of the country who worked for the interests of another state. We have seen this action of the institutions. We hope to see an end result because it is not enough to discover such cases, if they are not penalized. When I say penalized, I refer to the Prosecutor’s Office and the courts. I hope that this time the evidence is serious and the attitude of the institutions that are going to sanction these people is just as serious. The most important thing now is to make sure that this example of treason of the homeland is punished in the harshest way, as the law provides,” Maia Sandu stated in the program “Secrets of Power” on JurnalTV.
The head of state noted that treason and espionage are not specific to the Republic of Moldova only. Thanks to the cooperation with foreign intelligence services, these networks can be uncovered much faster.
“Our institutions work closely with the institutions of other states because, in many cases, these networks are not only in the Republic of Moldova. These persons also collaborate with people from elsewhere. And this external cooperation allows us to find out faster and more efficiently which people work against the Republic of Moldova. Such cases also happen in states with stronger institutions than those of the Republic of Moldova. We have to make sure that our institutions are strong, the procedures are clear and the law is applied. The problem is that for many years the law was not applied, those who betrayed the national interest were not penalized and this encouraged others to do the same. Now everything depends on prosecutors and judges. And the SIS should be vigilant because the risks are still high,” President Sandu pointed out.
According to prosecutors, the two officials suspected of treason and plotting against the national interests were detained for 72 hours. Under the law, the two detained persons benefit from the presumption of innocence.
