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Yesterday and today people are asking if Adrian Nastase's suicide attempt was genuine or just a ploy to escape prison. Some well-connected people who follow politics closely and who do not like him or his party, the post-Communist PSD, think it was a genuine attempt to kill himself but most cynics, who are always the majority in Bucharest, tend to think it was a trick. There did not seem any sign of blood in the pictures of Nastase on a stretcher his neck bound in a rather dapper Hermes scarf that reminded me of a scarf Paddington Bear might wear. Last night there was even a protest outside the Nastases' house (one of them - he is after all Nastase Sapte Case - Seven Houses Nastase).
I am unsure whether this suicide attempt was genuine but it would be very Balkan if it were not. Either way, Mr. Nastase has been deeply humiliated and, either way, he should go to gaol. Some Romanians think he still will but I doubt it now. I suppose it is up to the Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, who is Mr. Nastase's protege. I wonder if the Prime Minister's great foe President Basescu, sitting on the sidelines, will want Nastase and his party humiliated by his being sent to prison or prefer him to be released so that the President can complain it was a stitch-up. I suspect that in the President's residence, the Cotroceni Palace, they have the fortitude to bear Mr. Nastase's misfortune.
The cynics might scoff at the suicide attempt, but even if it were arranged, even so things have changed. A year ago no-one thought a former PSD Prime Minister would ever really be sentenced to prison at all let alone evade it by putting a gun to his own head.
Usually the courts do or used to do what the PSD wants, at least when the PSD is in power. What is interesting is that the PSD did not prevent the verdict - clearly Mr. Ponta could not afford to do so with parliamentary elections coming this year.
My fellow blogger Sarah has no doubts that this is a farce and blogs about it here.
What an extraordinary two days. Almost forgotten is the startling news that the Bucharest Court of Appeals on Thursday sentenced powerful and 'çontroversial' businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu to one year in prison for blackmailing former Realitatea Media manager Sebastian Ghita. One is reminded, of course, of Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion.
Indeed... it's like a play by Caragiale but without the perfect sense of timing and the wonderful plays on words. It is an orchestrated script carefully put into place, though lacking integrity and any sense of decency. It is saddening, humiliating and degrading for a country that is trying to prove itself (or pretend that it's at least making a vague effort) as fighting corruption (how can it possibly - it's so deeply engrained and as natural as the air we breathe).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, just for the record, the scarf was a Burberry and cost 395$... dont try to shoot yourself in the head without one. It clearly soaks up colossal pints of blood and remains unstained. Miraculous. The bullet apparently touched the larynx but with no damage to the vocal chords. Since the larynx IS the vocal chords and had it been touched, he would have been in great pain and aphonic, I'd say that's two miracles in one night. Not bad going. Along with no IV or oxygen mask necessary in the ambulance despite there being an alleged gunshot wound, the policeman who happened to be right there and the only one to have seen the attempt, the ambulance who awaited the press before setting off... ITU at Floreasca where there just happened to be more than the usual skeletal staff working that night, a friendly call from Ioan Rus to warn AN that it was all kicking off and the lawyer who was tipped off too... naaaaaaaaaaaaaah.... In addition to all that - Nastase is also an experienced hunter. i doubt very much he'd have missed his head had he really wanted to hit it! How hard could it be?!
If you want it, a link to the text in Romanian above entitled: "Interesanta manipulare" is: http://www.popescumarian.com/20120621/adrian-nastase-s-a-sinucis/ just in case anyone says we're nicking stuff without citing. heaven forfend!
Thanks for linking my blogpost, Paul. Indeed, I really do think this is a load of rahat to keep Nastase out of jail. And it'll work. Just watch. Justice may have found him guilty but that doesnt mean justice will finally be served. Just desserts are not globally served in Romania, hence why the likes of Iliescu are still hoofing the pavements of Bucharest rather than being in a cell in Rahova...
Sarah
ps - with regards Vantu, they'd better strait-jacket him at once to avoid a second performance of "A Night at str.Zambaccian"...
ReplyDeleteSarah
He was not humiliated, I don't think. He humiliated himself when he decided he was too cowardly to face up to the crimes he has committed (and he was let off a three year sentence for blackmail so he should count himself lucky)and helped write the script to this ridiculous charade. I hope Basescu (and don't get me wrong - Im not pro-Basescule but neither am I pro Ponta. they are all the same) will indeed insist on his going to jail. That's where he belongs and that's where he should be. 14 days in hospital for a make believe gunshot wound??? Este fara rusine....
ReplyDeleteSurely Mr. Basescu has no say does he? It would be for the Government not the President surely?
ReplyDeleteThanks for you posting; I quoted it in my first thought about the same stuff at http://www.cotaru.com/fragezeichen-zu-nastases-selbstmordversuch/#.T-V6DpHhfg8.
ReplyDeleteIf you should not know it, I recommend Paolo Rumiz' "Mascs for a massacre", published in Italian and German :-(...
Just a note - Ponta isn't Nastase's protegé. He was Iliescu's protegé - Nastase was his thesis director... say no more.
ReplyDeleteExcellent photo at the opening of your post, BTW.
As for government or president who decide, it should be the court - and we're talking the High Court who have already decided. If he is doing 'so well' as Lascar says he is (cosy honorary counsellor of PSD no less), then he should be transferred to Rahova Prison Hospital which is a modern outfit and quite able to treat grazes and cuts...
Sarah
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ReplyDeleteThe scarf was a Burberry and that speaks of Nastase well enough: new money! A farce or not, the man is a Burberry person, not an Hermes one.
ReplyDeleteAll money in Romania is new - except for a few emigre aristos.
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