Three farmers from the Gagauz village of Copceac have accused the leaders of the Kolkhoz cooperative of intentional violent actions against their workers and of damaging equipment.

The leader of one of the farms, Dmitrii Curdov, said on Wednesday at a press conference at the Infotag agency that he and his colleagues have been processing quotas of land rented from the villagers for several years.

“We draw up all documents on our relationship with the villagers at our own expense. Based on the results of the harvest, we give out to the peasants what is written in them. For example, last year it was 500 kg of wheat and 100 kg of sunflower, and the cooperative gave out only 300 kg of wheat and 30 kg of sunflower. Despite the fact that they cultivate people's land, they do not formalize it in any way,” Curdov stressed.

According to him, “disagreements with members of the cooperative led to serious incidents.”

“In 2020, a tractor and a plow (worth over 470 thousand lei) were set on fire in the territory of a private car service. CCTV cameras show that the unknown person twice poured flammable liquid on the equipment, clearly not in a hurry and being sure of his impunity. The local police opened a case, and then suspended it, allegedly "for lack of evidence,” the farmer stated, noting that he and his colleagues were “in despair.”

The other farmer, Valerii Manastirli, told that another arson of the combine, worth 4 million lei, happened on June 19.

“And there was an obvious arson, because an unknown person entered the closed hangar without windows especially for this purpose. The technique is out of order when we have a harvest, when every day feeds the year. They put a spoke in our wheels, and law enforcement officers are not on the side of the law, but on the side of those who violate it,” Manastirli considers, stressing that the victims have repeatedly appealed to the authorities of the autonomy and local law enforcement agencies.

The farmers appealed to President Maia Sandu and the Prosecutor General's Office, international organizations and ambassadors of Turkey and Russia with an urgent request to help them resolving the protracted conflict.