A court in Chisinau will examine George Simion’s request to lift his entry ban to Moldova on May 19. The hearing will happen one day after the second round of the Romanian presidential election, in which the far-right leader will attempt to become Romania’s president.
The Chisinau Court, Riscani office, scheduled the hearing in the case “Simion George-Nicolae versus the General Inspectorate for Migration” for 2:30 p.m., according to an announcement on the national court portal. The court began the proceedings in June 2023, and since then, the authorities extended Simion’s ban again that same year.
Simion, who won the first round of Romania’s repeat presidential election on May 4 with nearly 41%, first received an entry ban to Moldova in 2009. Moldovan police expelled him after he participated in a public gathering commemorating the union of Bessarabia with Romania, which allegedly disrupted public order.
Authorities consider Simion the author of the slogan “Bessarabia is Romania,” which started appearing on buildings on both sides of the Prut around that time. Authorities extended his entry ban several times, and the current ban remains in effect until 2028.
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Officials in Chisinau have not publicly disclosed the reasons for the ban. Parliamentary sources told Radio Free Europe that the information remains classified and that disclosing it could result in criminal charges.
Simion’s lawyer, Iulian Rusanovschi, told Radio Europa Libera he cannot reveal the contents of the case file because it is classified. However, he confirmed that the May 19 hearing will address the ban on Simion’s entry to Moldova.
In early February 2024, when authorities announced the latest extension of George Simion’s entry ban to Moldova, former Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu demanded explanations from his counterparts in Chisinau and Kyiv. Nine months later, during Romania’s presidential campaign for the annulled November 2024 elections, Ciolacu published documents allegedly received from Ukrainian authorities that cleared Simion of accusations that he was a Russian spy.
If Simion won the presidential election, he would become the first Romanian president banned from entering neighboring countries. Since 2024, Simion has also been unable to travel to Ukraine, where authorities accuse him of discrediting the Ukrainian state and promoting “unionist ideologies that challenge the legitimacy of state borders” through his statements.