Pressure on clergy in Moldova: A priest's family was fined over 100 thousand lei

In Moldova, new facts of systemic administrative pressure on representatives of the Orthodox Church of Moldova have been recorded. The family of clergyman Michael and his wife Elena faced a series of court proceedings on charges of illegal electoral propaganda, as a result of which they face fines and costs totaling more than 100 thousand lei.

According to Pravblog, the law enforcement authorities incriminate the clergyman and his wife with violations, which the victims themselves characterize as far-fetched and based on “unspoken directives” rather than facts. The reason for the first case against Father Michael was his comment in a social network with gratitude to a public figure who spoke in defense of the Church. The court qualified it as election campaigning and imposed a fine of 3,500 lei, which could not be challenged on appeal.

The second trial involved larger sums: each of the spouses was fined 42,000 lei. The basis for the charge was an SMS notification of a money transfer from a Russian bank. Despite the fact that the defense side provided documents confirming that the funds were transferred by the parents of the wife from Saratov as kinship assistance, the investigation ignores these arguments.

At the moment, litigation continues. Father Mikhail is awaiting the decision of the Appeals Chamber after the police challenged his acquittal verdict in the court of first instance. For a family forced to spend significant sums on legal aid, such a financial burden is almost insurmountable. The situation demonstrates a pronounced accusatory bias in cases involving clergy of the canonical Church in the region.

Recall, earlier we reported that the Moldovan government plans to return to state ownership more than 800 churches that have the status of historical monuments. This was announced by the Minister of Culture Cristian Jardan, noting that the authorities do not have the ability to manage such a large number of objects, many of which are in a dilapidated state and require significant funds for restoration.