Prosecutors suspect the deputy director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, Serghei Demcenco, of creating an organized criminal group that, through torture and intimidation demanded from prisoners illegal payments and fictitious debts. According to criminal law, such offenses are punishable by imprisonment from 3 to 8 years, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or to exercise a certain activity for a term of 10 to 15 years.

In June 2020, ZdG wrote that Serghei Demcenco, the longest-serving leader of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, lives in a house in a residential sector in midtown Chișinău, surrounded by other luxurious houses. Demcenco didn’t mention it in his declarations of wealth. According to his previous declarations of wealth, since 2014, Demcenco received donations from relatives worth 60,000 euros. ZdG has previously written about his integrity issues.

Demcenco was also found guilty of allowing a conflict of interest, but he was acquitted as the limitation period of contraventional liability expired. In another case, the police force charged Demcenco with ill-treatment, but national courts did not find him guilty. However, the ECtHR convicted Moldova in this case and forced the state to pay damages of almost 30,000 euros. Demcenco is also listed in a criminal case opened in November 2019, where he is suspected of intimidation and psychological pressure on a subordinate.