The Justice Ministry commission for conditional release has decided to provisionally release from custody former general Mirko Norac after he has served more than two-thirds of his 15-year prison term for war crimes, Norac's attorney Vlatko Nuic told press on Thursday.
Nuic, who still has not received the decision, said that Norac would leave the penitentiary at Lipovica where he had spent the last few years as soon as the necessary procedure, required in such cases, was completed. He expects that Norac could be released from custody in late November this year.
Norac will be released from custody but will continue serving his term in line with conditions to be stated in the commission's decision, Nuic said.
Norac has been in prison for more than ten years, since March 2001. He was first sentenced to 12 years in prison for war crimes in the area of Gospic, and later to six years' imprisonment for war crimes in the Medak Pocket area. When the second verdict became final, the Supreme Court joined the two sentences into a single prison sentence of 15 years.
Norac's lawyer submitted the request for conditional release in early May.
The former general's defence has also requested that his sentence be reduced, and the Supreme Court is to make a ruling on the motion. If his sentence is reduced, the time he will serve outside prison will be shortened.
President Ivo Josipovic, who is also Supreme Commander of the Croatian Armed Forces, in September 2010 stripped Norac of his rank. He did the same in the case of Branimir Glavas and Vladimir Zagorec, who also received final court verdicts.
