The Liberal Party is expressing solidarity with fellow member and former transport minister Iurie Chirinciuc. “What happened to Iurie Chirinciuc last week is yet another proof that Moldova is no longer a democracy, but a regime that resorts to political retaliation”, the party’s president Dorin Chirtoacă told a press conference today.

Chirtoacă believes that the Chisinau Court of Appeals last week exceeded its powers when it ruled that Chirinciuc must actually serve 3½ years in jail, despite the prosecutors requesting only a suspended sentence. According to Chirtoacă, this evokes the situation where a district court judge decided “out of the blue” to annul the 2018 mayoral election in Chisinau, in the absence of a request from any contestant. “It’s exactly the same here. A court may not pronounce on matters that aren’t requested by the parties”.

Chirinchiuc had been accused of trying to squeeze a part of government road rehabilitation project for companies that he controlled. When arrested, the then transport minister readily agreed to cooperate and eventually struck a plea deal in hopes of a mild punishment. Still, Dorin Chirtoacă suggests Chirinciuc might be innocent, as the footage that was used as evidence to arrest him, but which never came to be used in court, could have been forged.

Chirtoacă further suggested that Chirinciuc’s case is politically motivated and part of broader persecution faced by the Liberal Party after the coalition with the Democrats fell apart. “I could be next”, said the former Chisinau mayor, referring to his own criminal trial on corruption charges.