The head of the Parliament's Legal Division Ion Creanga and a senior Border Police officer will stand trial for treason and plotting against Moldova. The officer's wife is being investigated as an accomplice, IPN reports.
The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases said that the two officials, who were both suspended from office, as well as the officer's wife, were detained in July this year. They were suspected of conspiratorial communication with the then assistant of the military attaché of the embassy of Russia in Chisinau, in 2023-2024.
The parliamentary official allegedly had a series of meetings in Chisinau with the embassy employee, including meetings that lasted for over two hours, where he allegedly communicated data obtained through espionage, secret information for providing "assistance in carrying out hostile activities against state security". Thus, the information intended for internal service use and the secret information provided illegally concerned the measures to strengthen Moldova's military defense and also Moldova's cooperation in the security sector with other states, as well as the activity of national institutions in this field. The official also discussed the situation regarding the left side of the Nistru, the disadvantages for Russia of the legislative amendments concerning the referendum on Moldova's accession to the European Union, etc.
As a result of special investigative measures, with the support of the Security and Intelligence Service, the parliamentary official was detained in July, when he received $500 from the assistant military employee of the Russian embassy. Another $1,100 was found at his home. Subsequently, Creangă was placed in preventive detention.
According to the Criminal Code, treason committed in such circumstances is punishable by imprisonment of 15 to 20 years, ban on holding particular positions or on carrying out a particular activity for a period of 10 to 15 years.
As for the senior officer of the Border Police, who served at the Chisinau Airport, it was found that he also regularly had a series of conspiratorial meetings with the same employee of the embassy of Russia and secretly established contact with the diplomatic official for the purpose of treason, for which he received money. The officere was also placed in pre-trial detention.
The establishment of the link between the two and their systematic meetings was preceded last year by the meeting of the border guard's wife with the employee of the Russian embassy, who allegedly sent her a phone card, received from the diplomat, for exclusive and encrypted communication between the officer and the diplomat. Therefore, the woman will also be tried for contributing to the commission of the crime of plotting against Moldova. Under the law, the offense caries punishment in the form of 5 to 10 years in jail and ban on holding particular positions or on carrying out a particular activity for a period of 5 to 10 years.
