Romania’s former prime minister Adrian Nastase attempts suicide after getting jail sentence
Former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase addresses reporters following a hearing in his corruption trial at the High Court in Bucharest on May 30, 2012 . He attempted suicide after the Supreme Court threw out his appeal against a two-year jail sentence on June 20.
Romania's former prime minister Adrian Nastase, 61, has attempted suicide just hours after the Supreme Court threw out his appeal against a two-year jail sentence over corruption.
Reuters quotes from a statement released by the Bucharest Court of Cessation and Justice which says the incident happened after police arrived at his house to take him to prison. He told the police to wait while he went to get books from his home library, CNN says. Associated Press said he then shot himself in the neck.
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The news agency described television images showing Nastase being carried out of an ambulance on a stretcher covered with a blanket. His lawyer Ion Cazacu reportedly said Nastase was conscious when he saw him at the hospital.
AFP reports that the current Prime Minister Victor Ponta, an ally of Nastase's, has visited him in hospital, after which he said: "I hope he will recover."
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Nastase was prime minister from 2000 to 2004, says the BBC, explaining that he was convicted for illegally amassing the equivalent of about $1.9m for his 2004 election campaign. He insisted that the charges were politically motivated.
Nastase is the most senior political figure to be convicted by a court in Romania since the fall of communism in 1989, Radio Free Europe says.