On April 6, 2025, a video titled: “Le Pen’s sentence and Gutsul’s detention: democracy destroys all principles of people’s power. Full Europe” was posted on the NEWS.BY YouTube channel.
In particular, it contained the following statements:
The fate of the head of Gagauzia, Evgeniya Gutsul, is no less sad. Moldovan authorities, who have parliamentary elections coming up, have clearly decided to get rid of all dissent. And if possible, of the pro-Russian autonomy as well. The Moldovan politician was detained as part of a case regarding illegal financing of the election campaign during the 2023 elections. Maia Sandu, the current President of Moldova, received less than 3% of the votes. The same goes for the referendum, what she said about European integration, was also failed in Gagauzia. I think somewhere it shows through… Of course, not much attention is drawn to this story. The country is small, not rich, and also obedient, because it’s going to the EU. Or rather, it’s being led there. Sandu and company have literally usurped power with foreign money. At night, she lost the presidential election. And to prevent this from happening again, they decided to deal with the fragile woman. But they slightly miscalculated. They can’t fabricate a convincing case, and what’s happening with Gutsul has made her a symbol of Moldovan resistance.
Our verdict based on the conducted analyses:
Verdict: Incorrect
Reasons:
- The thesis or statement is completely false: information from several sources or opinions of several experts in a specific field contradict it.
- The cause-and-effect relationships and connections clearly do not exist as claimed.
- When quoting, substantial parts are omitted, rearranged, changed, or incorrectly translated from a foreign language, resulting in a fundamental change in the meaning of what was said.
- The event occurred in substantially different aspects than claimed.
Full video:
Key disinformation narratives
🇫🇷 Marine Le Pen as a “victim of repression”
“She was convicted because she could win”,
“This is not justice, but a political process.”
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FIMI technique: victimisation framing, discrediting judiciary, false cause
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Goal: to undermine trust in the French judicial system, to turn a legal measure into a “political reprisal.”
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Fact-checking:
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Le Pen was not convicted in 2024-2025.
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Likely a name substitution – in March 2024, the court convicted Marine Tondelier (or Nathalie Loiseau – confusion is possible).
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Regarding Le Pen, an old investigation into European Parliament funds continues, but there is no court sentence.
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🇲🇩 Evgeniya Gutsul — “prisoner of the regime”
“Made a symbol of resistance”,
“Sandu is trying to destroy Gagauzia.”
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FIMI technique: emotional framing, delegitimising governance, ethnic victimisation
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Fact-checking:
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Gutsul is under investigation in a financing case and not convicted.
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Gagauzia is an autonomy, but not an entity with the right to foreign policy.
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Comparison with Ceaușescu — clear radicalization of rhetoric.
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🇩🇪 AfD and “political persecution”
“Searches, attempt to arrange a ‘Romanian scenario'”,
“Von der Leyen calls for politicians to be tried.”
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FIMI technique: selective amplification, false equivalence, moral inversion
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Fact-checking:
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AfD is under investigations for espionage and unaccounted donations.
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Actions take place within the law, under court supervision.
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Taken-out-of-context quote from von der Leyen — distortion, said in the context of countering election interference, not “reprisals.”
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🇷🇴 Georgescu cases and “export of the Romanian model”
“The EU annuls elections if it doesn’t like the candidates”
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FIMI technique: fabrication, fearmongering, conspiracy theory
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Fact-checking:
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No public evidence that Georgescu was winning.
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No elections have been annulled by Brussels.
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The presentation is repeated from a previously analyzed story (see above), which enhances the campaign effect.
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🇵🇱 Poland: the next candidate for “intervention”
“The EU and Romanian intelligence services are preparing to clean up candidates”,
“Polish democracy is just a battle of curators”
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FIMI technique: anticipatory delegitimisation, mirror blaming, strategic forecasting
Fact-checking:
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There is no official source confirming contact between Polish and Romanian intelligence services regarding elections.
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“Cleanup” has no evidence base.
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Candidates and election procedures operate according to Polish law.
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Common features of the FIMI operation
| Characteristic | Manifestation in the story |
|---|
| Coordinated agenda | Repetition of themes from previously published stories (Romania, AfD, etc.) |
| Emotional amplification | Use of images like “mother of two children,” “eight tough guys,” “put on the floor” |
| Substitution of causes and effects | Investigation → “reprisal”, sanctions → “dictatorship”, court decision → “execution” |
| Internationalization of fake | References to Trump, Orban, Dodik, Wilders, Meloni and others |
| Distortion of quotes | Context substitutions: von der Leyen, Trump, national leaders |
Now let’s perform an analysis of disinformation narratives and semantic analysis:
The video claims that Marine Le Pen’s sentence is a political reprisal, which distorts the facts about the court process and its causes.
selective quoting
The content creates a division between ‘we’ (supporters of Le Pen and Gutsul) and ‘they’ (French and Moldovan authorities), which intensifies social disagreements.
Use of emotionally charged language to manipulate the perception of events, for example, describing Gutsul’s detention as ‘scandalous’ and ‘outrageous’.
The content contains notable distortions of facts and manipulations aimed at creating polarization and emotional impact.
threat to democracy in Europe
political repressions in France and Moldova
negative
anxiety
disappointment
