Former Moldovan lawmaker Marina Tauber has been sentenced in absentia to seven and a half years in prison for allegedly financing the outlawed opposition SOR Party.
Moldova’s top court banned the party, led by businessman Ilan Sor, in 2023 prior to the presidential election, citing illicit foreign financing. Despite the ban, the party’s elected lawmakers were allowed to remain in parliament as independents. Sor himself fled the country to avoid prosecution.
Alongside her prison term, Tauber was ordered to surrender more than 200 million lei (around $12 million) and was barred from holding public, civic, or financial roles in political parties for five years. She has denied any wrongdoing.
“Not because I broke the law, but because I did not betray my people. Because I am not afraid to say that Moldova is dying under Sandu’s rule and her Western handlers,” Tauber told RIA Novosti, referring to the pro-European Union ambitions of Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
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Tauber was not present at the sentencing, citing politically motivated prosecution. Her lawyer confirmed plans to appeal the verdict but said her current whereabouts were unknown.
The ruling comes just two days after parliamentary elections in which Sandu’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) narrowly secured a majority with 50.2 per cent of the vote. The opposition Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP) trailed closely with 49.8 per cent.
The campaign was marked by pressure on opposition groups, according to observers and analysts. Notable incidents included the arrest of Gagauzia’s governor, Evgenia Gutsul, which critics described as politically motivated.
Two other opposition parties, Greater Moldova and Heart of Moldova, were barred from participating in the vote shortly before election day.
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