Former PM Adrian Nastase asks to be rehabilitated

Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase submitted, on Friday, to the High Court of Cassation and Justice a request for legal rehabilitation, in order to end several interdictions in place after he was released on parole in August 2014, agerpres reports.

"Given that all conditions provided by the law have been fulfilled, I have submitted today, with the court, the request for legal rehabilitation," announced Nastase, on Facebook.

According to article 166 of the Criminal Code, a convicted person can be rehabilitated, on demand, by the court, following the fulfillment of several terms: 4 years, in the case of a conviction to prison greater than 2 years, but which does not exceed 5 years; b) 5 years, in the case of a conviction to prison greater than 5 years, but which does exceed 10 years; c) 7 years, following a conviction to prison greater than 10 years or in the case of life imprisonment, commuted or replaced with the punishment of prison; d) 10 years, in the case of the conviction to life imprisonment, considered served following pardoning, the fulfilling of the prescription term for the punishment's execution or parole.

Furthermore, according to article 168 of the Penal Code, the request for legal rehabilitation will be admitted if the person convicted fulfills the following conditions: a) he did not commit another crime in the time interval mentioned in art. 166; b) has fully paid the court costs and fulfilled his civil obligations established through the conviction decision, with the exception of cases when he proves impossibility to fulfill or when the civil party renounced damages.

The former Prime Minister was paroled in August 2014, after serving part of the four and a half years he was sentenced to in two cases: "Zambaccian" and "Trofeul calitatii". After being paroled, the courts imposed on Nastase a series of interdictions, including one against seeking office among them.

Adrian Nastase was convicted on June 20, 2012 to two years imprisonment in the Trofeul Calitatii case, of which he served eight months, being paroled.

Later, on January 6, 2014, he was convicted by the High Court of Cassation and Justice to four years in prison for bribetaking and three year for blackmail in the Zambaccian case and was released in August 2014.