Portraits of Romanian journalists Eduard Ohanesian, Marie-Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci in Paris. Photo by Al-Jazeera
Romania's President Traian Basescu said "every scenario is possible", including the execution of the three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq in March. "There are possibilities for a positive development of the case, but we can't rule out the worst scenarios", Basescu said in a TV broadcast, as cited by Romanian newspaper Ziua. He specified that his country does its best to secure the journalists' release. Basescu came under harsh criticism over an alleged "lack of information" on rescue efforts by the presidency, which took over the handling of the crisis. The last news on the hostages was offered by Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu in early May when he said they were still alive and Bucharest was negotiating their release.