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Former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase tried to commit suicide after being sentenced to jail on corruption charges

Alina Matis

Clarice Dinu

Publicat: 21/06/2012, 15:07

Actualizat: 22/06/2012, 10:45

Adrian Nastase, former Romanian prime minister, shot himself in the neck, in a failed suicide attempt, just hours after he had been sentenced to prison on corruption charges. He underwent surgery this morning and the medical team says his condition is stable and the bullet din not affect any vital organ.

Nastase, who served during 2000 and 2004 and was also president of the now ruling Social Democratic Party, is the only prime minister of a European Union country to serve jail time.

Romania’s highest court dismissed his appeal against a March 30 ruling and decided he would serve two years in prison for illegally raising funds for his failed 2004 presidential campaign.

When police officers came, late on Wednesday, at his residence in Bucharest, to him in custody, Adrian Nastase asked permission to take some books from his study. He then attempted to shoot himself in the head, but police officers tried to stop him and Năstase accidentally shot himself in the neck.

He was rushed to the hospital and went into surgery on Thursday morning. The procedure lasted for about an hour and the medical team announced the former prime minister’s condition is stable. „Fortunately, no vital organ has been affected. The pacient was lucky”, Ioan Lascar, one of the doctors who performed the surgery on the former prime minister, told the media.

The sentencing of Adrian Nastase has been hailed as a progress of the anti-corruption fight in Romania.

Nastase, who will be 62 this Friday, has insisted the case is politically motivated. His lawyers now try to get a postponement of the