Former Romanian prime minister freed from jail

A FORMER Romanian prime minister who shot himself in the neck when police came to bring him to prison was freed yesterday after serving one-third of his sentence for corruption.

Adrian Nastase, 62, the most senior politician to be jailed in Romania since the collapse of communism in 1989, had served around a third of his two-year sentence and earned credit for good behaviour, and thus was eligible for release. The judges made their decision yesterday.

Mr Nastase said he looked forward to “breathing freedom” and maintained his innocence.

“I am very happy for him and his family and I am waiting to see him,” said Romania’s prime minister, Victor Ponta. He said Mr Nastase would be welcomed back into the Social Democracy Party that he led until 2005.

Mr Nastase, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004, was sentenced last June for illegally raising money for a failed presidential campaign in 2004.