Former Prime Minister and HDZ leader Ivo Sanader has had his investigative detention revoked, allowing him to leave Remetinec in the afternoon hours.
This decision was made by the non-trial panel of the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday, media reports. The County Court’s decision followed the Constitutional Court’s conclusion on Tuesday that the Supreme Court unlawfully extended Sanader’s investigative detention when it revoked the first-instance ruling in the Fimi media case on September 30, 2015.
The former Prime Minister and HDZ leader is leaving the investigative detention in Remetinec without bail and any precautionary measures, and Uskok has already announced an appeal against this decision of the non-trial panel of the Zagreb County Court, which does not delay its execution.
According to the Constitutional Court’s decision, the contested ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the extension of investigative detention will cease to be valid no later than November 30, 2015, at midnight, unless the competent court issues a new ruling on the extension of investigative detention “based on sufficient and relevant reasons that can justify the deprivation of his liberty,” or “a new ruling on the imposition of precautionary measures to ensure the applicant’s presence before the court, without simultaneously depriving him of liberty.”
Sanader has been in Remetinec continuously since November 2012 when he was sentenced to his first, subsequently revoked ruling in the Hypo and Ina-MOL cases. Prior to that, Sanader was detained in Austria due to fleeing at the end of 2010 and, after being extradited in July 2011, was in Remetinec until December of the same year when he also defended himself from freedom with the same bail of 12.4 million kuna.
