Tudor Petrov-Popa (born 1963) 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-born

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n politician, arrested in

Tiraspol Tiraspol (, ; also /; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the third-largest city. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of cul ...

in June 1992 by the

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 ...

n separatists.

Biography

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

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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 violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

including

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

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

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. ...

,
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 () is a civic movement, which brings together over 120 NGOs, several leading public organizations of Moldova and a whole number of academicians, writers, journalists. In 2006, the organization clai ...

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