A 60-year-old Catholic priest from Zagreb, Mladen Kozina, has been arrested in an international police operation for downloading pedophile content from the Internet, the Zagreb County Court said on Friday, adding that it turned down the prosecutor's request to remand the suspect in investigative custody.
Ante Sojat, another Croat suspected in this operation, codenamed "Oliver", which was launched by Scotland Yard, has been detained for 30 days.
Kozina, who serves in "The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus" parish within the "Sisters of Mercy" clinic hospital, has been suspended from all his duties in the Catholic Church pending completion of the investigation.
The Zagreb Archdiocese said on Friday that Kozina was suspended on 12 October, the day the archdiocese was notified by the relevant authorities about the ongoing investigation implicating him.
If found guilty, the priest faces a prison term of one to ten years.
The Zagreb police declined to comment on the case.
