TRANSNISTRIA SUPREME COURT SENTENCES EX-PRESIDENT SHEVCHUK TO 16 YEARS IN ABSENTIA

The Supreme Court of Transnistria has sentenced the region’s former president Yevgeny Shevchuk to 16 years in jail, though in absentia.

According to the verdict of guilty, in 2015 then-president Shevchuk and then-government of Transnistria passed illegitimate decisions on funding salaries to public sector employees and pensions at reduced sizes. Two episodes of the accusation pertain to accepting particularly big bribes and three other episodes – to excess of office.

The investigation had proven his guilt on all the five episodes, namely Shevchuk has been declared guilty of the illegitimate reduction of salaries and pensions by 30%, the embezzlement of public funds (83 million rubles) through the Stabilization Fund, a bribe to prisoners for their lies. There are two more episodes on the corruption scheme that functioned at a local bio-chemical plant. Thanks to that scheme, Shevchuk had ‘earned’ 700 thousand U.S. dollars, and on his accepting a 600,000-dollar bribe from a businessman.

The court ruled that Yevgeny Shevchuk shall return this illicitly acquired income, plus shall repay a fine of 600 million Transnistrian rubles (nearly US$36 million).

In 2016, the Transnistrian judiciary had started a total of 7 criminal litigations against the ex-president. However, about a year ago Shevchuk and his family found shelter in Chisinau, and last summer Shevchuk and his wife Nina Shtansky [the former Transnistrian ministry of foreign affairs] and children left for Russia. Currently they live in Saint Petersburg.