Former MP Iurie Bolboceanu, who was sentenced to 14 years in jail for treason and espionage in favor of Russia, said he bears no blame and his case represents revenge taken by the former leader of the PDM Vladimir Plahotniuc. “I thank the Democratic Party and Plahotniuc for replacing the elimination scenario with the conviction scenario in relation to me,” Iurie Bolboceanu stated ironically in the program “Politics of Natalia Morari” on TV8 channel, IPN reports.
“I didn’t spy in favor of the Russian Federation or of another state. I don’t even know the mechanisms of such a procedure. I has always been a patriot of the Republic of Moldova. I have no other nationality than that of the Republic of Moldova,” said Iurie Bolboceanu, noting the criminal case was started over his activity in Parliament in 2010-2014.
He noted the dissentions between him and the PDM appeared during his the first months after he entered Parliament. He knew about the presumed connections between the PDM and the company “Metalferos”. “Democratic MP Vasile Botnari confirmed this to me. He once approached me and warned me that “Metalferos” is the main backer of the Democratic Party and this should remain a state monopoly or the party will remain without financing,” he stated, adding the discussion took place in the spring of 2011.
The ex-MP said that he then didn’t known what turnover that company had, but heard that this was of hundreds of millions of euros a year. During over two years, he never read the accusations made against him and the sentence given to him on March 13, 2018. “I know I bear no blame,” he stated.
Iurie Bolboceanu said he indeed met with a diplomat of Russia’s Embassy in Chisinau when he served as an MP. “We discussed what the media and civil society debated in that period,” he stated, noting in 2014 he and the Russian diplomat discussed the defection of 14 MPs from the Party of Communists to the Democratic Party and the presidential elections.
He also said that the sum of US$ 23,000 found at his home was gained by his children at the wedding party.
Gheorghe Malic, lawyer for Iurie Bolboceanu, said that what happened to his client cannot be called a trial based on a criminal case as this consisted of papers and rumors of circumstances that didn’t exist and there is nothing that can be classed as espionage.
In March 2018, Iurie Bolboceanu was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for treason after he was found guilty of collecting and transmitted information of national interest that could be used to the detriment of Moldova to officers of the Russian Ministry of Defense between October 5, 2016 and March 17, 2017. Recently, the Appeals Court sent the case of Iurie Bolboceanu back for retrial.
