Former Croatian Prime Minister Sanader released on parole

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has been released on parole after serving two-thirds of an 18-year prison sentence for multiple cases of corruption and abuse of office.

Sanader's lawyer Dragan Crnković stated that all legal conditions for his client to be released have been met, Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) reported.

Sanader was sentenced to a single sentence of 18 years in prison, having been convicted in three cases: for embezzling money from public companies in the "Fimi Media" case, for soliciting and accepting bribes in the "Planinska" case, and for ceding management rights over INA to the Hungarian MOL in exchange for bribes.

Crnković said that, in addition to Sanader's age, one of the reasons cited in the request for release was his health, but that these were not the main reasons, but rather the fact that he meets the requirements of the Criminal Code. He added that the former prime minister had served half of his sentence on August 15, 2023.

He said that after being released from prison, Sanader will first be obliged to report to the police station in Zagreb, and then to the probation center.

According to the lawyer, Sanader will be obliged to report to the police every month, will not be allowed to change his place of residence and temporary residence, and will be formally taken over by the Zagreb County Court, from which he will have to seek a solution in order to change his place of residence and temporary residence.

The former Croatian prime minister has spent almost nine and a half years behind bars, either in custody or on conviction. Early release in the Croatian prison system can be requested after half of the sentence has been served, and is most often granted after two-thirds of the sentence has been served.

After several detentions and releases, Sanader has been in prison continuously since April 2019, when the Supreme Court increased his sentence for corruption in the "Planinska" case to six years in prison. In that case, the former owner of the meat industry and MP from his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Stjepan Fiolić, admitted to bringing the former prime minister ten million kuna (about 1,35 million euros) and one million euros in commissions.

In mid-October 2021, the highest court partially upheld the verdict from the repeated proceedings in the "Fimi Media" case, according to which HDZ must pay a fine of 3,5 million kuna (about 470.000 euros) for siphoning money from state institutions and companies, while Sanader's sentence was reduced from eight to seven years in prison, along with the return of illegal benefits.

In October 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the first-instance verdict in which Sanader was sentenced to six years in prison for accepting a bribe from the head of Hungarian MOL Zsolt Hernadi, while the inaccessible Hernadi was sentenced to two years in prison.

In a series of long-running proceedings, Sanader was acquitted in a retrial in October last year of charges of war profiteering in the "Hypo" affair, for which he had been convicted twice in previous proceedings.