High-profile Western lawyers to defend jailed Euroskeptic Moldovan politician

The legal team of regional leader Evgenia Gutsul will include an attorney who defended former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont

High-profile Western lawyers have joined the defense team of the jailed Euroskeptic head of Moldova’s autonomous Gagauzia region, Evgenia Gutsul, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for alleged financial crimes that she claims are politically motivated. 

Paris-based law firm WJ Avocats and prominent Spanish lawyer Gonzalo Boye have been appointed to Gutsul’s international defense team, according to a statement on Wednesday by WJ Avocats’ founding partner William Julie.

WJ Avocats specializes in international criminal defense and human rights, while Boye has taken on high-profile cases such as efforts to charge George W. Bush officials over the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and the defense of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont from extradition. They will work with Gutsul’s local lawyers. Boye has called the case “very worrying.” 

Gutsul was sentenced last week by a Chisinau court for allegedly financing the now-banned Euroskeptic SOR party – a charge she insists is part of a broader effort to silence dissent ahead of elections. She denounced the verdict as a politically motivated crackdown, calling it “a blow to democracy” and a threat to anyone challenging the country’s pro-Western leadership.

Gutsul has led the predominantly Russian-speaking Gagauzia region since winning the 2023 election as the candidate from SOR, campaigning for closer ties with Russia in contrast to the pro-Western stance of President Maia Sandu’s government. The party was banned the same year on allegations of illicit financing from abroad.

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Julie said Gutsul has faced political attacks since taking office, calling the case another attempt to “silence and remove” her from politics. He said her international legal team will work to defend her “fundamental rights and the rule of law.” 

Russia has condemned what it described as a crackdown by the Moldovan government on Gutsul, calling it an example of “European anti-values in action” and a bid to pressure the opposition ahead of the country’s September parliamentary election. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the ruling marked the “culmination of repression by the Chisinau regime against the entire Gagauz autonomy.”