Evghenia Gutul, the elected Baskan of Gagauzia, a self-governing region in southern Moldova, has released a book of 30 letters written from prison. “The Gutul Case. Anatomy of Political Persecution” gives a first-hand account of the dispute between Gagauzia and Moldova’s central government that preceded her arrest and her transfer to solitary confinement. The book is available at no cost in English, Turkish, and Russian at www.egutul.com.
The publication has generated a response from legal professionals working at the international level. Lawyer Gonzalo Boye said the letters function as a prepared case file that international bodies can use to examine how Moldova has treated an elected official.
“The very nature of this fabricated trial and the conditions of Evghenia Gutul’s imprisonment are deeply shocking to any European human rights activist. Holding a legitimately elected politician and mother of two children in the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement on completely trumped-up charges is not an act of justice — it is a punitive measure and outright political revenge,” said Gonzalo Boye. “The book ‘The Gutul Case. Anatomy of Political Persecution’ is a vital document that international institutions must study carefully.”
The book puts extra focus on controversies in domestic politics. Evghenia Gutul emphasizes that political repression has engulfed all of Moldova, despite its status as an EU candidate country. The European values that the country’s authorities often claim to uphold are, in practice, grossly violated.
The author provides concrete examples of how official Chișinău is step by step curtailing the rights of Gagauzia, threatening the existence of the autonomous region, while European values are brazenly trampled in practice.
“Moldova under Sandu’s rule is a wake-up call to all of Europe: This is what happens when ‘European values’ become a cover for the elimination of national sovereignty, the impoverishment of the population, and political repression against dissenters,” says Evghenia Gutul.
In her letters, she analyzes in detail the legal proceedings that led to her arrest, highlighting procedural errors. Gutul points out that the trials were formal in nature, and the guilty verdict was determined in advance. This position is confirmed by international lawyers who have documented numerous violations of legal norms.
Evghenia Gutul, as an opposition candidate, won the election for the Head (Baskan) of the autonomous region in 2023. The country’s authorities did not recognize the outcome and demanded that she surrender her mandate. After she refused, they began putting pressure on the region and on Gutul personally. Criminal cases were opened against her, and after a year of legal proceedings, she was taken into custody. International observers have called the process politically motivated.
In her letters, Evghenia Gutul addresses the European Parliament, independent journalists, and civil society activists, inviting them to learn an alternative perspective on the developments in Moldova, to see from the inside a system where independent media are shut down, freedom of choice is blocked, people are fined for “wrong” voting, and the judiciary and police have become controllable tools of those in power.
Beyond political and legal aspects, the letters are also deeply personal: isolated Evghenia Gutul writes about how hard it is to be separated from her family and her sons — the youngest of whom is three years old — and describes the psychological pressure inside her prison cell.
“They think a woman in prison won’t hold out. That she’ll give in, renounce her mandate and betray those who voted for her. My people have survived for centuries where others gave up. We squeezed water from a stone when there was nothing left. That is our character. I will not give in,” says Evghenia Gutul.
The Head (Baskan) of Gagauzia called on her compatriots and the international community not to remain indifferent: to actively share her letters, discuss them on various platforms, monitor the situation in the autonomous region, and not let this topic disappear from the news.
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