Irina Lozovan (born 27 December 1983) is a

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

n politician. She has been a member of the

Parliament of Moldova The parliament of the Republic of Moldova () is the supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova, the only state legislative authority, being a unicameral structure composed of 101 elected MPs on lists, for a period or legislature o ...

since 2019. Originally a member of the

Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (, PSRM) is a democratic socialist political party in Moldova. A populist party, it holds Eurosceptic and Russophilia, Russophilic views, both of which are reflected by its long-time leader and ...

(PSRM), she joined the Revival Party, affiliated to Moldovan fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, in 2023. On 31 March 2025, Lozovan was sentenced to six years in prison for knowingly accepting funding for a political party from Shor's criminal group. She and her husband, sentenced at the same time as her to five years for complicity, escaped to Moldova's

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n-backed unrecognized breakaway region of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

to avoid justice.

Biography

Early life and education

Irina Mihail Lozovan was born on 27 December 1983 in the town of Lipcani, in the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(now

). She studied at the Gheorghe Asachi Pedagogical College (now the Gheorghe Asachi College) of Lipcani from 1999 to 2001 and at the Alecu Russo State University of

Bălți Bălți () is a city in Moldova. It is the second-largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city holds the status of municipiu. Sometimes called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cu ...

from 2001 to 2007.

Political career

Lozovan joined the

(PSRM) in 2014. She was councillor of

Ocnița District Ocnița () is a district () in the north of Moldova, with the administrative center at Ocnița. The other major cities are Otaci and Frunză, Ocnița, Frunză. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 56,100. History The first evidence of a loc ...

and of the town of Otaci, and became a member of the

for the PSRM in 2019. She had run for the Ocnița constituency in the

2019 Moldovan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on 24 February 2019 in order to elect the 101 members of the Parliament of Moldova. The Constitution holds that elections are to be held no later than four years and three months from the date of inaug ...

and won, beating the five other candidates. Lozovan became member of the parliament for the

Bloc of Communists and Socialists The Bloc of Communists and Socialists (, BCS) is an electoral alliance between the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). It was formed as the Electoral Bloc of Communi ...

(BECS) in 2021. According to a June 2021 investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM), Lozovan was involved in a

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

case involving the

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

Edineț Forestry Enterprise. On 25 March 2023, Lozovan announced that she would leave the BECS and join the Movement for the People. On 16 May, parliament member Alexandr Nesterovschi announced that he and Lozovan would join the Revival Party, led by Serghei Mișin. On 22 May, Lozovan, Nesterovschi, Vasile Bolea and Alexandr Suhodolski, all former BECS parliament members, joined the Revival Party. On 4 August of that year, the National Anticorruption Center (CNA) announced that Lozovan's husband, Ocnița District councillor Pavel Gîrleanu, had been put under preventive arrest for 30 days, as he would have attempted to bribe Ocnița mayor Victor Artamanciuc with 30,000 dollars to leave the PSRM and join the Revival Party. On 21 September, Lozovan and Nesterovschi were stripped of their

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

and

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

ed for 72 hours. Both were accused of accepting illegal financing from the criminal group of Moldovan fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, to whom the Revival Party was affiliated, as well as of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and passive corruption.

Conviction and escape to Transnistria

On 31 March 2025, Lozovan and Gîrleanu were sentenced ''in absentia'' to six and five years in prison respectively and banned from holding public office for five years. Lozoveanu was sentenced for knowingly accepting funding for a political party from Shor's organized criminal group, while Gîrleanu was recognized as accomplice. The court ruled that 30,000 dollars, recognized as ''

corpus delicti (Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proven to have occurred before a person could be convicted of having committed that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unle ...

'', with which both tried to bribe Ocnița's mayor, would be confiscated and transferred to the state. On 3 April, the head of the Moldovan Police, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, declared that Lozovan and Gîrleanu had escaped to Moldova's

n-backed unrecognized breakaway region of

to avoid justice. Nesterovschi had also been sentenced on 19 March, to 12 years in prison, and likewise escaped to Transnistria the day before. However, unlike Nesterovschi, who escaped with the help of the in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, Lozovan and Gîrleanu escaped through other means, and also before him, according to Cernăuțeanu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lozovan, Irina 1983 births Living people People from Briceni District 21st-century Moldovan women politicians Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova politicians Moldovan MPs 2019–2021 Moldovan MPs 2021–2025 Moldovan female MPs Moldovan politicians convicted of crimes Alecu Russo State University of Bălți alumni