A Croatian court has ordered the release of former prime minister Ivo Sanader, who is serving an 18-year jail sentence over several corruption cases.
On Thursday, the County Court of Sisak ruled in favour of Sanader’s release since he has spent almost 11 years behind bars after his pre–trial detention—or nearly two-thirds of his sentence, a court spokeswoman said.
“He will not be released before Monday,” she said.
Sanader led Croatia into NATO and the European Union in the 2000s. He quit in 2009, and in 2022, he was sentenced to jail for 18 years over several cases that included taking bribes and stealing public money.
At 72, Sanader was the highest Croatian official to be charged with corruption since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.
Tackling graft was a key condition for Croatia’s membership of the EU in 2013, but corruption remains endemic. Several ministers from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s HDZ party have stepped down amid corruption allegations since he took power in 2016.
