The pro-Russian mayor of Chisinau does not escape the ban on entering Romania and Schengen. The court rejected his appeal

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of the mayor of Chisinau against the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Border Police, by which he requested the annulment of the ban on entry into Romania and Schengen. Ion Ceban states that he will appeal the decision.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected Ion Ceban's appeal. PHOTO: Facebook.com/ Ion Ceban

The magistrates of the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected the request, underlining that it is “unfounded”. The decision is final and was pronounced on March 11, and shortly after, the mayor of Chisinau announced that he would challenge it.

“We will appeal the decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal according to legal procedures. In the court hearings, the position of the opponents was mainly limited to procedural issues”, the mayor of Chisinau emphasized.

Furthermore, Ion Ceban claims that he will seek justice, including at the European Court of Human Rights.

“The judiciary must remain free from any political influence. And in my case it is strictly political, an agreement to denigrate me. However, our citizens are wise and realize very well that it is a political order from the state leadership”detailed the mayor Ion Ceban.

Previously, the president of Romania, Nicușor Dan, declared that the ban on entry into the country of the mayor Ion Ceban was applied following a national security assessment. For his part, the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, rejected the accusations that this restrictive measure was the result of an “agreement” with his Romanian counterpart.

Relations with Russia

Meanwhile, Ion Ceban threatened to sue Oana Țoiu, being outraged by her statements made in the context of the restrictive measure issued in his name. It happened after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu, declared that the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, was denied access to Romania and the Schengen area because of his ties to Russia.

“In the case of Mr. Ceban, because he is the only public name I can talk about, there have been documented for a long time his complicated connections with representatives of the Russian Federation. For Romania, it is extremely important that this type of influence be limited on our territory, especially since we have a very large number of citizens who are both Romanian citizens and citizens of the Republic of Moldova. It is a decision that was taken for reasons related to national security, the decision not to allow access to the territory of Romania has as a direct effect the decision not to allow access to the territory of the Schengen area”also affirmed Oana Țoiu.

On July 9, 2025, representatives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) announced that the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, and two other Moldovan citizens were banned from entering Romania and the Schengen area. It is about the controversial journalist Natalia Morari and the former communist prime minister and leader of the Viitorul Moldovei party, Vasile Tarlev.

The communist and socialist past

On the day the war began, Ion Ceban, the mayor of Chisinau and the leader of the National Alternative Movement, was in Moscow, a fact he admitted only in September last year. He claimed that the Russian Federation was only a transit point, and the final destination should have been exotic Thailand, where he never arrived.

Over time, Ion Ceban was a member of the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) and the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), and in 2014, shortly after the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea, he supported the illegal referendum in Gagauzia, which promoted the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus Customs Union.

Also in the same year, Ion Ceban, together with several socialists, protested in Brussels against the signing of the Association and Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union.

“Only within the Customs Union does the country still have the chance to preserve its statehood and take the path of progressive development”, Ion Ceban said then.