Shor Party lawmaker Marina Tauber will remain in custody, after the Chisinau Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected her lawyers’ request to review a lower court’s decision extending her preventive arrest by another 20 days.

Appearing in court, Tauber told reporters she was disappointed, claiming prosecutors failed to present any new evidence, if at all, for her detention. She also reiterated her and her party’s innocence.

“A country that has political prisoners cannot be a candidate for European Union membership”, the lawmaker declared, repeating the claim that the case against her amounted to “political pressure” on the orders of President Maia Sandu and the governing party PAS.

A group of supporters gathered outside the courthouse to demand Tauber’s release.

On July 21, Tauber was stripped of parliamentary privilege before being arrested. Subsequently she has been charged with two offenses: knowingly accepting illegal financing for the Shor Party from an organized criminal group; and falsifying the party’s financial report for the first half of 2022 with the intention of withholding actual incomes and expenses.