Oleg Khorzhan

Khorzhan worked at the Dubăsari military hospital following the end of the Transnistria War in July 1992. He joined the local communist party when he turned 18 and took an active role in the reconstruction of the party's youth wing. In April 1995, he was elected to the Tiraspol City Council. From 1997 to 2000, he served as chairman of the parliamentary legal commission. Khorzhan was later awarded an honorary diploma by City Council for his work.[1]

In May 2003, he joined the newly created Pridnestrovie Communist Party (PCP) and was elected its chairman after the original party leader was imprisoned.[1]

In March 2007, Khorzhan was arrested and detained for organizing a protest in Tiraspol against rising prices and taxes. He was subsequently sentenced to one and a half years of probation.[2]

Khorzhan addresses supporters on 19 February 2016.

In the 2010 parliamentary elections, Khorzhan became the first PCP candidate to be elected to the Supreme Council. During his first term he was assigned to the Committee on Education, Science and Culture.[1]

Khorzhan ran in the 2011 presidential election as an independent with the support of the PCP, and came in fourth with 5.09% of the vote.[3]

On the anniversary of Transnistria's founding in 2014, then-President Yevgeny Shevchuk awarded Khorzhan the medal "For Labor Valor".[4]

For his efforts in developing and strengthening relations between Transnistria and the other breakaway republic of South Ossetia, he was awarded an honorary diploma by the Parliament of South Ossetia. Khorzhan was also awarded the Order of Party Valor by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for his work in Moscow.[5]

Khorzhan was elected again in the 2015 parliamentary elections, taking first place in the No. 40 constituency with 43.62% of the vote.[6][7]

He ran for president again in the 2016 presidential election, this time as a PCP candidate. He placed third with 3.17% of the vote.[8]

On 2 June 2018, Khorzhan held a rally in Tiraspol, at which, a number of attendees were detained by police. Later that day in the evening, Khorzhan went to the city's internal affairs building to meet with the director and vouch for the detainees' release. Police officers blocked him from entering the building and a physical altercation reportedly took place. Khorzhan wrote a statement to the police afterwards, denouncing the police's actions as a disproportionate use of force and a violation of his rights as a member of the Supreme Council. In turn, on the recommendation of head prosecutor Anatoly Guretsky, Khorzhan was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested on 6 June 2018.[9][10] Several other party members had been arrested by authorities prior to Khorzhan,[11] including his wife, his son, and Tiraspol City Council deputy Alexander Samoniy.[12] Khorzhan's arrest was immediately met with condemnation from members of the UPC–CPSU, who denounced his detention as illegal and politically motivated.[11]

On 3 November 2018, the Supreme Court of Transnistria found Khorzan guilty of assaulting law enforcement and sentenced him to four and a half years in prison. He was also ordered to pay a hefty fine.[13] Moldovan President Igor Dodon expressed his disagreement with the ruling and urged the Moldovan prosecutor's office to respond, although no action was taken by the latter.[14]