A Romanian court on Wednesday sentenced an Arab businessman in absentia to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of masterminding the kidnap of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005. Omar Hayssam, a Syrian-Romanian financier, disappeared from Romania last year after a local court let him leave a prison hospital to recover at home following surgery for colon cancer.
His escape triggered the resignation of Romania's chief prosecutor and of the heads of the Black Sea state's main secret services last July. Hayssam, who is believed to be hiding in Lebanon or Syria, was also ordered to pay 2 million euros ($2.66 million) in damages to each of the three journalists. In a telephone interview with private TV station Realitatea, Hayssam said he was innocent.
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