Former Romanian PM to be released on parole

Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase will be release from prison on parole, following a ruling of the local court on Thursday.

The court's final decision will be forwarded to the Jilava Penitentiary where Nastase is serving his sentence. The former prime minister is to be released later in the day.

The court upheld the favorable ruling for Nastase issued by Bucharest's Sector 4 Court, dismissing an appeal made by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).

In early January, Nastase was sentenced to four years in prison for taking bribes and three years for blackmail in the "Zambaccian" case in which he was accused of receiving, between 2002 and 2004, undue benefits worth approximately 600,000 euro (790,000 U.S. dollars).

The benefits were reported to be in the form of imported goods and some construction services done on his property in Cornu and a house in Bucharest's Zambaccian Street.

In 2012, Nastase was also sentenced to serve two years in prison for abuse of power. He served eight months before being paroled. Nastase, 64, 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.