Croatia’s former Prime Minister will have to wait a little longer for a taste of freedom.
Defence attorneys for Ivo Sanader submitted to the court a request to replace the remand prison with bail, in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the bail should be set at 12.4 million kuna, and the defence offered two properties instead of money. However, the court found that Sanader’s defence has not filed some of the necessary documents, the expert opinion which the court needs to accept the property. Therefore, Sanader will remain in the Remetinec prison over the weekend, reports Vecernji List on October 3, 2015.
One of the offered properties is a house owned by Sanader’s lawyer Goran Suić, which is estimated at 9 million kuna, while the second property is a part of the family house of Mirjana Sanader in Kozarčeva street. The court panel will decide on the defence’s proposal, but prior to that the defence must submit to the court the value assessment for the two properties.
Once the court decides to accept the properties, the procedure is quite long, so it is hard to believe that it could be completed in a day. In other words, as long as the legal paperwork is not completed, Ivo Sanader will not get out of prison, where he will probably remain for at least a part of next week.
Sanader’s original verdict has been revoked and the whole case returned to the first instance court for a new trial, due to “substantive violations of criminal procedure and serious violations of the right to a fair trial”.
Sanader’s lawyer Jadranka Sloković was dissatisfied with the decision of the court not to release Sanader immediately. She explained to journalists that the house of lawyer Goran Suić had not been accepted because Suić is registered as the owner of two halves of the house, and not of the complete house. “We have decided to ask the Science Faculty to explain to the court that two halves make a whole”, said Sloković jokingly.
“I believe that this is further harassment of Ivo Sanader by the court. It is the obstruction of the process which should take its course, because we have the Supreme Court decision which no one can question and which clearly states which conditions Sanader has to meet to be released”, said Sloković.
