The former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, convicted on corruption charges in Romania, was detained on Saturday by Greek authorities in the parking lot of Thessaloniki Airport 10 years after his initial arrest.
An image of Oprescu escorted by officers, with a police car next to him, was released by Greek police.
“According to our sources, Sorin Oprescu was caught in a parking lot near Thessaloniki airport,” according to a statement.
At this moment, according to our sources, the fugitive is on his way to a police station, where the procedures for his detention are to be implemented, given that there is still a warrant for the execution of the sentence in his name,” a statement said.
Oprescu was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years and eight months in prison for bribery, setting up an organized criminal group and abuse of office. He fled the country before the court ruling. He was detained in Greece in 2022, based on the Romanian warrant, but a judge in Greece rejected the extradition request saying the former mayor would not have decent conditions in Romanian prisons.
Oprescu, 73, a medic, was Bucharest mayor from 2008 to 2015 when he was arrested on corruption charges.
