The leader of the “We Build Europe at Home” (“Acasă Construim Europa”) party (PACE), Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, who fled Moldova in July 2021, has lost a lawsuit filed against seven media outlets, including Ziarul de Gardă. The court decided at the end of July to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the PACE president, Gherghe Cavcaliuc, in August 2019 against Sorin Stati and several media outlets, including Ziarul de Gardă, on the defence of professional honour and dignity, the recovery of moral damages and court costs. At the same time, the politician must pay the state approximately 430 lei, expenses incurred by the court in connection with the settlement of the case.

Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, who left the country in the summer of 2021, after the July 11 parliamentary elections, and who is under investigation in several criminal cases, filed, through his lawyer, in August 2019, an application for a writ of summons against the former head of Moldatsa Sorin Stati and several media outlets, including ZdG, requesting the defence of professional honour and dignity, the collection of moral damages and court costs.

Cavcaliuc’s request came after Sorin Stati, former director of the state-owned MoldAtsa, made several revelations about how cigarette, anabolic, ethyl alcohol and amber smuggling schemes operate in Moldova. In June 2019, Stati told a TV show that former deputy chief of the National Patrolling Inspectorate Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, former MP Constantin Țuțu, Vlad Plahotniuc’s godson Dorin Damir and MP Constantin Botnari were behind the schemes.

According to the court’s Closing, Cavcaliuc did not appear at the court hearing and his lawyer’s powers of attorney have expired.

“By the protocol conclusion of 27 June 2022, the court found the impossibility of accepting Petru Bălănel as the plaintiff’s representative, taking into account that his powers of attorney have expired. In this regard, it is noted that the back of the mandate MA Series No. 1304413 dated 28 June 2019, issued by the lawyer Petru Bălănel, was signed by Ruslan * under power of attorney,” the court noted.

At the same time, Sorin Stati and his representative requested the removal of the application for a writ of summons from the case, noting that the examination of the case on the merits is not required.

“Having heard the participants in the trial, having studied the case materials, the court considers it necessary to remove the application from the case,” the Chisinau court’s conclusion reads.

Thus, following the termination of the trial, Cavcaliuc must pay for the benefit of the state the costs incurred by the court in the amount of about 430 lei.

Gheorghe Cavcaliuc, who is in London (having fled Moldova after the parliamentary elections of 11 July 2021), is also a defendant in the “fabricated criminal cases against Gheorghe Petic and Ruslan Verbițchi, as well as in the “Brilliant Green” case. On 19 November 2021, the magistrates of the Ciocana court in Chisinau issued a 30-day arrest warrant for Colonel Gheorghe Cavcaliuc.