The attorney for former Deputy Prime Minister of the Croatian Privatization Fund, Robert Peša, has filed a lawsuit against Croatia with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, claiming that her client, who has been in custody for over 15 months as a defendant in the Maestro case, has had his human rights violated.
After frequent unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme Court and constitutional complaints, Zagreb lawyer Višnja Drenški Lasan decided to file a lawsuit in Strasbourg, asserting that Peša is unlawfully detained and that his rights under the Convention on Human Rights have been violated. The lawsuit requests the court to determine that Croatia has violated several provisions of that Convention and to release her client, who is accused of abuse of power and receiving bribes.
The lawyer claims that the treatment of 43-year-old Peša in the Zagreb prison in Remetinec is inhumane and degrading, and that he is placed in inappropriate conditions. Furthermore, she asserts that he is detained for political reasons and that his right to a fair trial is being violated, and that there are no legal remedies in the Croatian judiciary to protect him. As this is a so-called detention case, the lawyer expects the court in Strasbourg to resolve her lawsuit as quickly as possible.
Those accused of corruption in the CPF were arrested in the Maestro operation in mid-June last year, and in February of this year, USKOK filed charges against three former vice presidents of the Fund and seven other individuals. Seven of the accused have also been detained, but in July, the Constitutional Court accepted the complaint of Mladen Jandriček and released him from custody, and last week, accused lawyers Asja Piplović and Juraj Parazajder joined him in freedom. They were released from custody by the Supreme Court, which is expected to decide by the end of this week on the appeal of one of the accused vice presidents of the Fund, Ivan Gotovac. (H)
