Moldova to close legal loopholes facilitating judicial evasion to Transnistria
Moldovan Speaker of the Parliament, Igor Grosu, has announced that legislative amendments designed to prevent defendants from fleeing before sentencing will be adopted as a matter of priority.
The move follows several high-profile escapes to the breakaway Transnistrian enclave, a territory currently outside the control of Chișinău's constitutional authorities. Grosu admitted that certain "legal windows" were likely left open deliberately in the past.
Institutional gaps and geopolitical interference
Law enforcement officials suspect that Alexandru Pînzari, former head of the Police, and Dmitri Constantinov, former Speaker of the Gagauz Assembly, are currently hiding in Transnistria. Constantinov was sentenced to 12 years in prison on December 26, 2025.
Last spring, former MPs Alexandr Nesterovschi and Irina Lozovan, linked to the "Șor" criminal group, also fled across the Dniester River. Investigators suggest they were assisted by personnel from the Russian Embassy in Chișinău.
Tracking the fugitives
The issue of judicial evasion is not new. Ion Perju, sentenced to 10 years for a fatal blow during the 2009 protests, remained a fugitive for a decade before being captured in September 2025 while hiding in his attic.
Similarly, former MP Constantin Țuțu, sentenced to eight years for influence peddling, spent time in the Transnistrian region last autumn before eventually being transferred to Chișinău's Prison No. 13.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
