Romania's ex-PM attempts suicide after jail sentence

BUCHAREST - Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase tried to commit suicide, hours after he was sentenced by the country's top court to serve two years in prison for illegal fundraising.

Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase addresses the media after exiting a courtroom in Bucharest in this picture taken late June 13, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

He is not in life-threatening condition now, according to local media.

According to local television, Nastase shot himself in the neck, and was sent to the nearby Floreasca Emergency Hospital, covered with a blanket with a blue scarf around his neck.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has rushed to the hospital to see Nastase who is waiting for surgery.

Nastase, 62, was found to have abused "the influence or authority of the office of a party chairman to organize a symposium called 'Quality Trophy in constructions' in order to raise money for the presidential election campaign he was to embark on."

The participation fees for the symposium, amounting to more than 1.6 million euro ($2 million), were transferred to a company that provided various services during the presidential campaign of the social-democratic leader.

In January 2012, the Romanian high court had sentenced Nastase to two years in prison, but the latter challenged the sentence by appeal, arguing that the trial was politically motivated.

The top court's verdict on Wednesday, however, is final. Nastase has 24 hours to before being taken into custody. The former prime minister said earlier that he would appeal against the verdict at the European Court of Human Rights.

Nastase served as Romanian prime minister from 2000 to 2004 and headed the Social Democracy Party from 2000 to 2005. He also served as foreign minister from 1990 to 1992, and was the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2004 to 2006.

He has remained an influential person in the Social Democratic Party and is seen as the one who has helped current Prime Minister Ponta take over the reins of the party.