Tudor Petrov-Popa (born 1963) is a

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

n-born

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n politician, arrested in

Tiraspol Tiraspol or Tirișpolea ( ro, Tiraspol, Moldovan Cyrillic: Тираспол, ; russian: Тира́споль, ; uk, Тирасполь, Tyraspol') is the capital of Transnistria (''de facto''), a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the th ...

in June 1992 by the

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

n separatists.

Biography

Petrov-Popa was a Soviet army veteran of the war in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

who was convicted together with four other men in the so-called Ilașcu Group for acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

including

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

by the separatist authorities of Transnistria. The trials in 1993 were considered by many human rights groups as unfair and lacking in due process. Adding to this impression were the clearly political aspects, in that Petrov-Popa and Ivanţoc as well as the others were Romanian unionists. On 9 December 1993, the Supreme Court of Transnistria found him guilty of murdering a representative of the State with the aim of spreading terror, unauthorised use and theft of ammunition or explosives, and assault. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. All members of the Ilașcu Group are believed to have been tortured, subjected to mock executions, psychotropic substances, and forced to sign confessions. Petrov-Popa, Ivanţoc and the others of their group were Romanian unionists who campaigned for unification of Romania and Moldova. In 2004 the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

ruled that Moldova and Russia should end his detention as well as the detention of the other political hostages in

, but the Transnistrian authorities did not comply. He was finally released on June 4, 2007.

Realitatea TV Realitatea TV (, meaning "The Reality TV") is the former name of the Romanian news television channel Realitatea Plus. The channel began broadcasting in 2001 as a general-profile television and became the first Romanian news television in 2002. It ...

,
Ultimul membru al grupului Ilaşcu, Tudor Petrov Popa, a fost eliberat astăzi
(The last member of the Ilaşcu group, Tudor Petrov Popa, was released today)'' He is a leader of the

Democratic Forum of Romanians in Moldova The Democratic Forum of the Romanians of Moldova ( ro, Forumul Democrat al Românilor din Moldova) is a civic movement, which brings together over 120 NGOs, several leading public organizations of Moldova and a whole number of academicians, write ...

References

External links

The Ilaşcu Trial - White Paper of the Romanian Helsinki Committee - 1992Hostages of Russian state terrorism in Moldova - 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrov-Popa, Tudor 1963 births Living people Romanian people of Moldovan descent Transnistrian people Moldovan people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Transnistria Romanian people convicted of murder Moldovan activists Ilașcu Group Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Moldova) Popular Front of Moldova politicians Politics of Transnistria History of Transnistria since 1991