Moldovan Opposition Forces Hold Protest, Demand Ouster of Pro-Western President – Video, Photo

Moldova is deeply divided between supporters of closer ties with Russia and integration into the European Union. In May, pro-Russian former President Igor Dodon was arrested on “high treason” charges and placed under house arrest. Dodon has denied any wrongdoing and accused his rivals of engaging in a “political vendetta.”

Supporters of Moldova’s Shor Party gathered in front of the presidential administration building in Kishinev on Tuesday, accusing President Maia Sandu of running the country like a “dictatorship” and demanding her ouster.

The protest was organized after the country’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office carried out raids on the homes of activists and supporters of the party, stripped Shor vice-chairwoman Marina Tauber of parliamentary immunity, and placed the lawmaker under arrest for one month.

Protesters carried signs reading “Tauber is a victim of the regime of the Party of Action and Solidarity!” “Maia Sandu and the PAS = Dictatorship and Collapse,” and “Maia Sandu: hold your dogs on a leash!” Others wore T-shirts and caps with the phrase “Marina is a political prisoner.” The protesters also chanted “Shame!” “Maia Sandu out!” and “Freedom!

“Marina Tauber is a political prisoner of the current regime, we must put an end to this dictatorship. Therefore, we demand the resignation of President Maia Sandu. Who will come after her? We are ready to take responsibility for our country,” an organizer told the crowd from the steps of the presidential administration.

Party founder Ilan Shor, who was forced to leave the country in 2019 on corruption charges, addressed supporters by video, accusing Sandu of personal responsibility for Tauber’s arrest. The politician asked citizens who are not ready to continue to “endure lawlessness and humiliation from the regime of Maia Saundu to stage a large-scale protests and to say ‘no’ to the regime and lawlessness.”

Protesters also urged foreign diplomats stationed in the country to pay closer attention to the situation, and the political persecution and coercion they say is being carried out by the current authorities.

Earlier this month, Moldovan National Center for Combating Corruption chief Iulian Rusu warned that Shor could be liquidated entirely if evidence emerges that it has received illegal financing.

Shor joined the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists in large-scale protests against the current government earlier this summer. In June, the united opposition gathered over 40,000 demonstrators in Kishinev’s main square to protest the Sandu government, the rising cost of living and perceived inaction by the authorities. Two days later, the Prosecutor’s Office began searches of the homes of politicians and party activists.

Along with Shor, which is a populist, Eurosceptic conservative party, the leftist bloc has also faced persecution, with the Prosecutor’s Office confiscating documents and the telephone of the Socialist Party’s accountant last week on charges that the party had received illegal financing. The party has dismissed the charges as “fabricated.”

Former President Dodon, the de-facto leader of the Socialists, was placed under house arrest in late May, and charged with corruption, high treason, and illegal party financing by a criminal group. Dodon has vocally denied the charges against him and other opposition figures, and accused Sandu’s government of turning the persecution and isolation of opponents into state policy.

Sandu became president after elections in November 2020, with her liberal, center-right pro-EU party receiving heavy support from Moldovan nationals living and working abroad.

Kishinev applied for EU membership on March 3. Dodon, who pushed for closer economic ties with Russia and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union in 2017, expressed confidence that the Eastern European country wouldn’t be accepted into the bloc for 10-20 years, and called the application a “politically motivated PRC stunt.”