Analysts say that last month’s kidnapping of a Ukrainian judge in Moldova may damage President Maia Sandu ahead of early parliamentary elections due this summer.
On April 3, Ukrainian judge Nikolai Chaus, his son and two bodyguards were abducted in central Chisinau. The kidnappers released all the men except for the former judge whose whereabouts are still unknown.
Chaus, a former Kyiv judge, became widely known in 2016 after being accused by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine of taking a 150,000 US dollar bribe, which he allegedly buried in glass jars under his house.
There was huge public interest in the case, as Chaus had played a prominent role in the government of Petro Poroshenko. However, the judge managed to avoid trial, fleeing to Moldova a few days later where he applied for political asylum.