Șepeli was pardoned by Maia Sandu with seven months left to serve
The presidency did not have all the necessary details when it decided to pardon Nicolae Șepeli in 2022. He was a young man convicted of drug trafficking in Russia, who prosecutors and non-governmental organizations portrayed as a victim of human trafficking.
President Maia Sandu stated that she decided to pardon Şepeli because he had no prior criminal record and a commendable prison record. However, she was unaware at the time that Şepeli was due to be released in just seven months.
“From the list of five individuals submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office for pardon consideration, it was indicated that they were victims of human trafficking. I fully respect the members of the Pardon Commission. They conducted interviews and reviewed the cases thoroughly. Of the five, only Şepeli was recommended for pardon because he had no prior record; not only was his prison conduct satisfactory, but the individual interviews conducted by commission members also supported this recommendation. The fact that he was set to be released in seven months was a problem, and we lacked this pertinent information,” Maia Sandu explained on Jurnal TV.
The president accused the prosecutors of concealing the information that Şepeli's detention period had already been reduced by a court ruling, stating that "we need to see why".
Maia Sandu also mentioned that she has not yet received an explanation from the Prosecutor General's Office: "The other institutions have responded to us. I have no issues with the members of the Pardon Commission".
During the same broadcast, the president highlighted that Şepeli came under the scrutiny of law enforcement last summer after the Intelligence and Security Service identified him as a member of the group led by the convicted Ilan Șor.
"He was investigated as a member of the Șor group during the elections and, after the elections, law enforcement noticed that he was engaged in other activities during his surveillance. Subsequently, law enforcement informed Ukraine, which helped prevent potential crimes," Sandu stated, commending the timely actions of "our institutions that detected this in time" and that a "major disaster was avoided".
The president concluded by emphasizing that the act of granting a pardon is one of "forgiveness," which is utilized worldwide, and highlighted that "there is never 100% certainty that this person, after being pardoned, will not reoffend or commit illegal acts or crimes."
Ukrainian and Moldovan special services successfully thwarted a plan by Russian intelligence agencies to assassinate at least five prominent Ukrainian figures, including journalists, high-ranking military personnel, and leaders of strategic enterprises.
A total of 12 individuals were arrested during this operation, with five of them detained in the Republic of Moldova. The group's assassination methods ranged from close-range firearm attacks to explosive assaults on the victims' vehicles. The Russian intelligence services reportedly offered up to $100,000 for each assassination, depending on the significance of the target.
The recruiter for this operation is identified as Nicolae Andrei Şepeli, born in 1995, who has a criminal record in the Russian Federation. Despite being pardoned in Moldova in 2022, he apparently reestablished connections with the criminal underworld and Russian intelligence agencies, using the Telegram platform to receive instructions from his "curators."
On February 19, 2026, immediately following his arrest, President Maia Sandu signed a decree revoking the pardon he received on April 11, 2022.
