Dumitru CRUDU, Emilian GALAICU-PĂUN & Maria IVANOV
On 16 September 2024, Moldavan writers and PEN Romania members Dumitru Crudu, Emilian Galaicu-Păun and Maria Ivanov, as well as journalist Elvira Moroșan, were detained at the border of Bender/Tighina by Ministry of State Security (MGB) agents – the security service of the Russia-backed separatist government in Transnistria who confiscated identity documents and copies of TIMPUL, a cultural magazine. The writers and journalist were heading to a literary meeting with high school students in Bender/Tighina where they had intended to distribute the magazine, which included articles condemning the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine (Bender/Tighina is a city under de facto control of the separatist region of Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova in 1990).
Interrogated for over an hour, Moldova’s Ministry for Reintegration eventually brokered their return to Chișinău, Moldova’s capital. They were told they were banned from entering Transistria. In November 2024, Crudu and Ivanov filed a complaint against the agents who prevented them from entering Transnistria (see Case List 2025). The case was ongoing as of 31 December 2025. Crudu told PEN International all three were still banned from entering Transnistria at the end of the year.
Free expression organisations have documented how journalists are obstructed or detained while reporting in Transnistria – including through systematic surveillance, harassment, and confiscation of equipment – with impunity. PEN International and PEN Romania urged the local authorities to ensure that writers and journalists – including Crudu, Ivanov, Galaicu-Păun and Moroșan – can work and travel in Transnistria freely and safely, without intimidation.
Dumitru Crudu (born on 8 November 1967) is an award-winning novelist, poet, and playwright. Emilian Galaicu-Păun (born on 22 June 1964) is an award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic, translator and publisher. Maria Ivanov (born on 21 September 1993) is a writer, poet, journalist and editor-in-chief of TIMPUL.