The Croatian Constitutional Court on Tuesday evening announced its decision under which investigative custody for former Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union leader Ivo Sanader must expire by 7 am on December 12 at the latest, and that in the meantime the investigating judge in charge of the case must decide on some other measure or measures to replace investigative custody and ensure Sanader's presence at the trial.
The Constitutional Court thus quashed an earlier decision of the Zagreb County Court to remand Sanader in custody, saying that the reasons stated in the decision were no longer sufficient.
The Constitutional Court cited the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the positions of that court must be respected by all Croatian judicial bodies.
"The investigating judge and the panel of judges in charge of the case did not take into account... the dynamic approach which is insisted on by the European Court of Human Rights in the assessment of the sufficiency of circumstances when decisions are made on the extension of investigative custody to which the guarantee offered by the complainant is linked," the Constitutional Court said in its decision posted on its web site.
The Court said that it was not up to it to decide on guarantees and other measures aimed at ensuring Sanadar's attendance of the trial because it only had the authority to supervise matters related to the protection of human rights.
The Court has therefore returned the matter to the Zagreb County Court for reconsideration, deciding that there is enough time until December 12 for the investigating judge to make a new decision, taking into account the positions of the European Court of Human Rights. The previous decision prolonging investigative custody can cease to be effective even before that date if the investigating judge adopts appropriate measures, said the Constitutional Court.
The last time investigating judge Kresimir Devcic remanded Sanader in custody, at the recommendation of the anti-corruption office USKOK, was on October 17, when he rejected the highest bail offered in the history of the Croatian judiciary, HRK 12.4 million, which consisted of lien offered by the then Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, Sanader's friends and former party colleagues Mario Zubovic and Jerko Rosin, and his wife Mirjana.
Devcic explained his decision at the time by saying that proceedings against Sanader were under way in a number of cases in which the total damage was estimated at more than HRK 100 million.
After a Zagreb County Court panel of judges dismissed their appeal against Devcic's decision, the defence filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court ruled that by extending investigative custody for Sanader, the court had ignored the dynamic of the change of facts in the period from December 2010 to July 2011, and in the period from the first decision extending investigative custody on 17 August 2011 to the last such decision.
The Constitutional Court said that the judge's justifying the decision to extend investigative custody by referring again to events related to Sanader's departure from Croatia in December 2010 and saying that its sole purpose was to avoid criminal prosecution, was no longer sufficient.
The Constitutional Court believes that the investigating judge did not take into account facts that had happened in the meantime, such as the blockade of Sanader's bank accounts, his responsibility in case of escape for the fate of his family and friends who offered guarantees for him, and the fact that he is easily identifiable, which the court said would pose a serious obstacle to any potential plan on his part to hide in the country or abroad.
