Ex-Romanian PM tries to commit suicide

Bucharest, June 21 (IANS) Former Romanian 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.

He was not in a life-threatening condition, Xinhua reported.

Nastase shot himself in the neck, and was sent to Floreasca Emergency Hospital.

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 organise a symposium 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 (about $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 Wednesday, however, is final. Nastase has 24 hours 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.