MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi has communicated through his Zagreb lawyer that he has reported Croatia to the European Court of Human Rights because “criminal law and criminal proceedings are used in some imagined chess game” in which “he does not want to participate”.
“My party’s position is that it has the impression that Croatian politics has been using criminal law and criminal proceedings since 2011 in some imagined chess game as a kind of tool for exerting pressure to achieve certain concessions. With his lawsuit against Croatia for restricting his fundamental rights, he wants to clearly indicate that he does not want to participate in that chess game,” Hernadi’s words were conveyed to Hina by Zagreb lawyer Laura Valković.
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“The Republic of Croatia will have to explain to the European Court whether the subject arrest warrant is lawful, whether its issuance had a legitimate aim, whether it was necessary in a democratic society, and whether it imposed an excessive individual burden on the applicant,” states a note reminding that this is the second case against Croatia before the Strasbourg court concerning the legality of the issuance of a European arrest warrant.
This claim followed after the Office of the Croatian representative before the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that it received Hernadi’s lawsuit against Croatia on September 1 for violation of the right to freedom of movement, which is protected by one of the protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
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The note regarding Hernadi’s lawsuit was sent by the Office to the Croatian Parliament, the Office of the President of the Republic, the Government, the ministries of justice and internal affairs, the police director, the presidents of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the State Attorney’s Office, and the president of the Zagreb County Court, which placed Hernadi in investigative detention after initiating an investigation into the alleged bribery of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in the so-called INA-MOL case.
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In a statement sent to the media on Monday afternoon, the Office of the Croatian representative before the Strasbourg court stated that in the further course of the proceedings, the representative will closely cooperate with all competent authorities in order to defend their actions or the actions of the defendant state in this case.
Freedom of movement
Lawyer Valković, on the other hand, believes that the fact that Croatian courts have never resolved his appeal regarding the determination of investigative detention supports the claim that Hernadi’s movement is restricted, and that the courts emphasize that he was duly summoned for questioning at the State Attorney’s Office, but that he did not respond to the summons. However, contrary to the opinion of the Croatian side, Hernadi’s defense claims that he never received an official invitation for an interview, although the Hungarian Ministry of Justice received a request of such content.
“The request is not an invitation, as it does not contain the basic information that an invitation must have, such as the place and time of questioning as well as the actions that will be performed,” Valković emphasizes.
And in the note from the Office of the Croatian representative before the court in Strasbourg sent to state bodies, it states that Hernadi claims in the lawsuit that his freedom of movement, including leaving his own country, is restricted due to fears that he will be arrested and extradited to Croatia. They also state that Hernadi claims that the European arrest warrant was issued unlawfully and arbitrarily and that it was immediately rejected by nine European countries, while Germany and Austria stated that they would not act on it. He also noted that Croatia issued a new arrest warrant in 2015, but that despite this, he was removed from Interpol’s list of wanted persons in November 2016.
“The Republic of Croatia will have to explain to the European Court whether the subject arrest warrant is lawful, whether its issuance had a legitimate aim, whether it was necessary in a democratic society, and whether it imposed an excessive individual burden on the applicant,” states a note reminding that this is the second case against Croatia before the Strasbourg court concerning the legality of the issuance of a European arrest warrant.
Ignoring the arrest warrant
The proceedings against former Prime Minister Sanader and Hernadi for allegations of a €10 million bribe during the sale of shares in Ina, which was merged in December 2015 after the Constitutional Court annulled the first ruling against Sanader, were temporarily suspended at the Zagreb County Court in May this year.
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In the meantime, due to uncertainty regarding the Croatian request for the arrest and extradition of Hernadi, the County Court in Zagreb also requested a statement from the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the request was officially received at the court in Luxembourg on May 18. That court is expected to assess whether the ignoring of the European arrest warrant by some EU countries is justified.
