Romania’s former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase shot and wounded himself in an apparent suicide attempt just hours after the country’s Supreme Court upheld his two-year prison sentence in a graft trial, local media reported.
Nastase, 61, shot himself in the neck as police arrived at his home late on Wednesday to arrest him, the Romanian Public Ministry was quoted as saying in a statement.
He has been admitted to a hospital in Bucharest. Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who visited him at the hospital, said his condition was “under control.”
Nastase, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004, has been found guilty of illegally raising 1.6 million euros ($2.1 million) during his 2004 election campaign, when he ran for president on behalf of the Social Democrat Party.
The case was nicknamed "The Quality Trophy," referring to a conference organized by a state construction agency in 2004, where companies and institutions donated money that prosecutors said Nastase later used to fund his campaign.
The ex-minister has repeatedly dismissed the charges as politically motivated, accusing President Traian Basescu, who defeated him in the 2004 race, of orchestrating the scandal.
The trial lasted over three years and involved 900 witnesses and 48 court hearings, the Romania Insider website said.
Nastase's lawyer, Ioan Cazacu, said he would appeal the decision to the European Commission for Human Rights.
Five other people had been sentenced to prison in the case, getting sentences ranging from two to seven years.
