Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader Released on Parole

(Patria) - By a decision of the Sisak County Court, former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who is serving a prison sentence at the Lipovica penitentiary, has been released on parole.

Recall, Sanader was sentenced to a single prison term of 18 years, and he had already been seen in Zagreb and Kutina because he used the privileges granted under the Law on Execution of Prison Sentences.

Today, a hearing was held at the Sisak County Court, where it was decided that the former Croatian prime minister meets the conditions for early release before serving his full sentence.

His lawyer, Čedo Prodanović, had previously announced that he would seek his release before the end of the sentence.

"I have received no notification about this, and this is news to me," Sanader's lawyer told Croatian media, adding that he was not even aware that a hearing was held today at the court in Sisak.

Two years ago, Croatian media reported that the then 69-year-old Sanader could remain behind bars until the age of 80 if the court did not approve early release, given three final verdicts.

Namely, for siphoning money from public companies into the HDZ's black fund and an unrecorded donation to the party's treasury, Sanader was sentenced to seven years in prison.

For soliciting and accepting 17.5 million kuna from Stjepan Fiolić in exchange for favoring the sale of a building to the Ministry, he received six years, and for relinquishing management rights over INA to the Hungarian oil company in exchange for a bribe of ten million euros, he was sentenced to six years in prison.