BUCHAREST, June 22 (Xinhua) -- The Social Democratic Party, through a decision of its leading body, announced on Friday to continue support for their party leader Liviu Dragnea, also speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

The National Executive Committee of the party decided to support Dragnea "in all his political positions, in the leadership of the party and in the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania's Parliament," according to an official document adopted at the end of a four-hour meeting of the party's leading body.

Dragnea said after the meeting that he will remain at the helm of the party and the deputies' chamber, "We have decided to be more firm and radical in everything that we need to do."

The core members of the Social Democrats held an emergency meeting late Friday after the court sentence in Dragnea's case.

Dragnea was sentenced in the first trial to 3 years and 6 months imprisonment with execution on Thursday by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in a file on fictitious employment.The decision is not final.

The supreme court convicted him for instigation to abuse of office, after he had been accused by anticorruption prosecutors of using his influence over ten years ago as Chairman of the Teleorman County Council at that time to employ two persons at a local government agency, despite the fact that the two were actually working for the local organization of the Social Democratic Party.

Dragnea kept on telling the judges at previous hearings at the supreme court in the file that he was not involved in the case and rejected all charges.

He claimed he hadn't particularly known the two persons hired at the local institution and that he hadn't the authority to hire them there or at the party.