COMRAT, May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Evghenia Gutul, the legitimately elected Head (Baskan) of Gagauzia, has released a collection of 30 letters written during nearly 300 days in prison. Titled “The Gutul Case: Anatomy of Political Persecution,” the book has drawn immediate attention from international legal circles.
Evghenia Gutul, the democratically elected Head of Gagauzia (an autonomous region in southern Moldova) has published “The Gutul Case: Anatomy of Political Persecution,” a book compiled from 30 letters written over nearly 300 days in detention. The book documents the deepening conflict between Gagauzia and Moldova’s central authorities, the circumstances of Gutul’s arrest, and the political pressures that led to her transfer to solitary confinement. It is available for free download in English, Turkish, and Russian at www.egutul.com.
Background: From Election Win to Prison Cell
In 2023, Gutul won the election for Head of Gagauzia as an opposition candidate. The central authorities refused to recognise the outcome and demanded she surrender her mandate. When she refused, Chișinău began applying pressure on the region and opened a series of criminal cases against her. After a year of legal proceedings, she was taken into custody. On 5 August 2025, a court in Chișinău sentenced Gutul to seven years in prison. International observers have described the process as politically motivated from the outset.
International Legal Community Responds
The book’s release has already prompted a response from international legal circles. Spanish lawyer Gonzalo Boye described the collection as “ready-made evidence of political repression in Moldova.”
“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 Boye. “‘The Gutul Case: Anatomy of Political Persecution’ is a vital document that international institutions must study carefully.”
A Challenge to Europe’s Values
The book focuses particularly on contradictions within Moldova’s domestic politics. Gutul argues that political repression has spread well beyond Gagauzia to engulf the country as a whole — despite Moldova’s status as an EU candidate country. She documents with concrete examples how official Chișinău is systematically eroding Gagauzia’s autonomous status, while the “European values” the authorities routinely invoke are brazenly disregarded 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 Gutul.
The Legal Process Under Scrutiny
In her letters, Gutul analyses the legal proceedings in detail, documenting procedural errors and arguing that the guilty verdict was effectively predetermined. International lawyers have confirmed this assessment, recording numerous violations of legal norms. Independent observers broadly agree: the case was politically motivated from the start.
A Call to Parliament, Journalists and Civil Society
Gutul addresses the European Parliament, independent journalists, and civil society activists in her letters, offering an alternative perspective on developments in Moldova. She describes from the inside a system where independent media are shut down, freedom of choice is suppressed, people are fined for voting “the wrong way,” and both the judiciary and police have become instruments of those in power.
Beyond the political and legal analysis, the letters carry a deeply personal weight. Separated from her family, her youngest son is three years old, Gutul writes candidly about the difficulty of that separation and the psychological toll of solitary confinement.
“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.”
Keeping the Gagauzia Issue in Public View
Gutul calls on her compatriots and the international community not to remain indifferent — to share her letters widely, discuss them across platforms, and keep the situation in the autonomous region visible in the public discourse.
The book and all of Gutul’s statements are available free of charge at www.egutul.com.
Contact
Serghei Moraru
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8e6f3a8b-9750-489a-a4c0-ff07fd4dfe4f
