The Ungheni Court has sentenced a 45-year-old man to 20 years’ imprisonment in a closed-type penitentiary, finding him guilty of murdering a person with particular cruelty in the town of Ungheni. The sentence was made public by the court on Tuesday, 7 July, and is not final — it can be appealed within the next 15 days.
What the court established
According to the Ungheni Court, the tragedy took place on the night of 1–2 March 2026. Based on the evidence gathered by the Ungheni Prosecutor’s Office, the court found that the defendant was at his home together with the victim and, while intoxicated, subjected the victim to repeated acts of violence, ending the victim’s life by mechanical asphyxia — strangulation. The court held that the man acted with direct intent and full awareness, and that the manner in which the crime was committed is marked by particular cruelty.
The defendant did not admit the charges. He claimed the victim had been killed by another person while he was at a shop. The court rejected this version and established his guilt on the basis of the whole body of evidence.
In addition to the prison term, the judges ordered that pre-trial detention be maintained until the sentence becomes final, and that 62,294 lei be recovered from the defendant for the state as judicial costs.
Why “not final”
A first-instance sentence is not the justice system’s last word. Until it becomes final — either when the appeal window closes or after review by higher courts — the convicted person still benefits from the presumption of innocence. In this case, the sentence can be challenged within 15 days of its pronouncement at the Northern Court of Appeal, based in Bălți, the court that hears appeals from the north of the country.
Murder is punishable under Article 145 of the Criminal Code, and committing the act “with particular cruelty” is one of the circumstances that aggravate the punishment, pushing it towards the upper limit of the prison term. The case passed through two separate institutions: the Ungheni Prosecutor’s Office, which investigated the case and brought the charges, and the Ungheni Court, which tried it and handed down the sentence.
A case of domestic violence
Beyond the legal terms, the case described by the court is one of violence that took place at home, between people who were together, against a background of alcohol consumption — a pattern often seen in murder cases in the Republic of Moldova. The court did not make public the names of those involved, and Triunghi.md does not disclose them. Until a final ruling, the identity of the defendant and the dignity of the victim remain protected.