The Inspectorate General of Police (IGP) announced on Friday morning, November 4, that employees of the IGP’s National Investigation Inspectorate (INI), together with prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), are conducting searches of several figures on a criminal case aimed at preparing mass riots.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview in Bucharest for the Romanian publication G4Media that there are “attempts” by Russia to destabilise the situation in Moldova by using citizens’ discontent over rising energy prices. Asked if she was considering a Russian-financed coup in Moldova, the head of state said “there are these risks”. Asked whether the authorities in Chisinau had information about actions by the Russian Federation that would directly threaten Moldova, the President said that “we have recently seen findings by the US State Department, where there is talk of relations and collaboration between corrupt groups in Moldova, between pro-Russian parties in Moldova and the Russian secret services”.

After conducting searches in Balti, Chisinau, Drochia and Ungheni, PCCOCS prosecutors, together with police investigation officers, have assigned suspect status to eight people and seized 380,000 lei and other evidence, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) announced.

“Law enforcement officials have grounds to suspect that the money raised was accumulated from illicit activities. It was to be used to recruit, organise, transport and pay persons instigated to carry out mass disorder actions.

In addition, among the items seized during the searches are also draft entries with lists of persons containing telephone contacts, including certain sums indicated, which are presumed to be money paid for the purpose of carrying out the crime under investigation. Moreover, documents were seized which reveal the creation of pseudo-authorities aimed at usurping state power, evidence which is to be analysed and assessed accordingly,” the PG announced.

The eight suspects, including two women, are aged between 23 and 41 and live in Balti, Chisinau and Drochia and Ungheni districts. According to the PG, they are being investigated for allegedly preparing for mass disorder, contrary to the Law on assemblies, including transporting from different regions of the country to Chisinau several people, especially young people with an athletic body build, including previously convicted persons, instigated to commit new crimes and illegalities: “Mainly, they were co-opted in order to resist violently against law enforcement officers ensuring public order at the demonstrations planned for the immediate future”.

“Moreover, among the suspects are persons who also had the role of identifying police employees, who ensured public order at the protests, in order to intimidate and discredit them. As for other roles within the organized criminal group, they were related to the recruitment of people to participate in destabilizations,” the PG also announced.

Law enforcement officers are continuing investigations, including with a view to establishing other persons within the organised criminal group under investigation. According to the law, the crime under investigation is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 4 to 8 years.

On Friday morning, November 4, employees of the National Investigation Inspectorate (INI) of the IGP, together with prosecutors from the PCCOCS, conducted searches of several figures on a criminal case aimed at preparing mass riots.

The vice-president of the “Shor” party Marina Tauber, who is the target of two criminal cases initiated on “knowingly accepting party funding from an organised criminal group” and “falsifying the party’s financial management report”, announced on Friday 4 November that the home of Dinu Turcanu, who is a party member, was raided. According to sources of Ziarul de Gardă, the raids took place in a criminal case aimed at preparing mass riots.