Dodon: I Won’t Leave the Country Even Persecuted by the Authorities

Moldova’s ex-President noted that “the anti-national regime’s methods have nothing to do with the principles of the legal state and have already become a state policy.” Igor Dodon said that he would not leave the country, despite the fact that the persecution and isolation of the opposition since the election of Maia Sandu as the head of state has become a state policy, reports tass.ru “I haven’t fled my country and I’m not going to, as I said before. I have nothing to fear because I did not break the law. I have decided to fight a dictatorial regime, and together with all the people we will manage this difficult mission,” he posted Thursday in his Telegram channel before a court session that is considering the prosecutor’s request for another extension of his house arrest. The former president expressed outrage that “more than 50 prosecutors and officers who receive money from the state are trying to find anything that could justify lawlessness ordered directly by Maia Sandu.” According to him, all law enforcement resources are spent on this, while corruption, smuggling and poverty spread more freely than ever in the country. Dodon noted that “the methods of the anti-national regime have nothing to do with the principles of the rule of law and have already become a state policy: persecution of politicians who enjoy any support and their isolation from society in order to prevent their activities.” The ex-president was detained at the end of May and charged with illegal enrichment, corruption, illegal party financing and treason. The court rejected prosecutors’ request to imprison him during the investigation, leaving him under house arrest, repeatedly extended. The current term expires on August 20, and prosecutors have requested that it be extended for another month. The judges also rejected prosecutors’ request to ban Dodon from speaking to the press. Dodon said he considers himself innocent and the prosecutor’s office has no proof of the charges against him. According to him, the cases against him were politically motivated at Sandu’s behest to weaken the largest opposition, the Socialist Party of Moldova, which he formerly led. He accused the authorities of persecuting his mother, his wife, who is accused of complicity in illicit enrichment and forbidden to leave the country, and her brother was also arrested as part of the case. Dodon’s lawyers filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office, accusing the investigators of spreading confidential information and the authorities of harassing his family members, who are harassed by provocateurs during visits to the prosecutor’s office. In 2021, Dodon left his position as leader of the largest opposition Party of Socialists and headed the Moldovan-Russian Business Union Point