Ivo Sanader will be operated for prostate cancer.
The trial in the Fimi Media case was not continued today at the Zagreb County Court as it was expected. The reason is difficult health condition of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who is one of the accused in the case. According to a court appointed medical expert who examined Sanader’s medical records, Sanader was on Monday admitted to the hospital for surgery, since he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, reports Jutarnji List on October 10, 2016.
The former Prime Minister is expected to be operated on during the day, after which he will need, according to the medical witness, to spend at the hospital the next ten days, and he will be unable to attend trial for at least two months after that. Therefore, Irena Kvaternik, the president judge of the trial chamber, scheduled the next hearing in the Fimi Media case for 21 December, when Sanader’s health condition should be clearer and it will be possible to determine whether he is ready to stand trial.
In the Fimi Media case, the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime charged Sanader and others, including HDZ as a political party, for taking money from the state-owned enterprises in order to finance the party’s illegal funds. This is a re-trial because the first conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court.
Sanader was elected as HDZ president in 2000, and after parliamentary elections in 2003 he became Prime Minister. His party won parliamentary elections in 2007 as well, and he remained as Prime Minister until 2009, when he suddenly resigned under circumstances which are still not clear. Almost immediately after his resignation, various investigations against him were launched. He unsuccessfully tried to return to active politics, but his attempt was prevented by Jadranka Kosor, his successor as HDZ president and Prime Minister. He was arrested in December 2010 in Austria and spent the next several years in prisons in Austria and Croatia. He has been released from prison and is awaiting trails in several cases.
