Former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase has undergone surgery and is in stable condition, a day after he shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt.

Doctors in Bucharest said Thursday that they successfully operated on Nastase's gunshot wounds, which he inflicted on himself Wednesday as police tried to take him to jail for corruption.

Prior to the shooting Wednesday, the Romanian Supreme Court upheld a ruling giving Nastase a two-year prison sentence.

Nastase was appealing the sentence on charges he illegally raised nearly $2 million for his 2004 presidential campaign. He denies the charges, calling them politically motivated.

Romania's current president, Traian Basescu, is Nastase's political rival. Nastase unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Basescu for the office in 2004.

Nastase was Romanian prime minister from 2000 until 2004. He is the highest-ranking Romanian politician to be sentenced to prison since the end of communist rule in 1989.