Extradition detention for former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in Salzburg has been extended for two more months, the spokeswoman for the Austrian prosecutorial authorities, Barbara Feichtinger, was quoted by the APA news agency as saying on Tuesday.
Under the decision, Sanader should remain in extradition detention until 8 May.
A court in Salzburg decided to extend Sanader's detention because he was regarded as a flight risk, the spokeswoman said.
Sanader, who has been in extradition custody in Salzburg for the past three months, refuses to be handed over to the Croatian authorities, as he fears that he would not stand a fair trial in his homeland.
After his defence layer Werner Suppan submitted to the court a 50-page expert analysis which refers to the violation of Sanader's human rights, investigating judge Claudia Lechner postponed the extradition hearing indefinitely.
Outstanding issues must be examined, spokeswoman Feichtinger said commenting on the decision.
Sanader said he wanted to be tried in Austria.
Should the court accept the defence's requests and not allow the extradition, it is possible that the charges against Sanader be discussed before an Austrian criminal court, Suppan said.
He is ready to face an Austrian criminal judge any time and he believes that, before an independent court and in a just and politically independent trial, he can refute the charges against him in a short period of time, the lawyer for Sanader said.
The Salzburg court judge has postponed the extradition hearing primarily because she wants to obtain additional information from Croatia. Based on arguments she received on Tuesday, the judge will formulate question for the Croatian authorities. The questions will, among other things, refer to possible tempering with prosecutorial witnesses and to the reason why Croatian courts would not allow Sanader's lawyer to see the case documents, Suppan said.
Sanader's Austrian attorneys believe their client is being exposed to "crucial violations of human rights" primarily in the active public condemnation of Sanader on behalf of the media and top politicians, who are already publicly discussing the alleged evidence against Sanader and assume that he will be convicted, as well as in the expert analysis submitted to the court in Salzburg.
It seems that the proceedings are primarily politically motivated, given that many observers believe that they are relevant for deciding both when it comes to parliamentary elections and Croatia's EU accession, the analysis read.
The document also mentions allegedly fewer rights of the defence team as a result of the new penal code, which the Croatian Constitutional court also criticised on four counts.
According to Suppan, a team of legal, political and media experts has been observing the situation in Croatia concerning the proceedings against Sanader since mid-December.
The court postponed Sanader's extradition to Croatia where he is wanted on corruption charges.
The former Croatian premier was arrested in Austria on 10 December on an international warrant issued by Croatia which suspects him of abuse of office and involvement in a joint criminal enterprise.
After a detailed analysis, the team arrived at the conclusion that Sanader would not stand a fair trial because of many violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, notably the violation of the presumption of innocence by the media, the authorities and politicians, and because of political influence on the proceedings.
The expert team suggested to Sanader to oppose his extradition to Croatia for the reasons stated above, Suppan said.
