First Deputy Prime Minister Cacic's attorney Cedo Prodanovic on Wednesday said that the final ruling by the Hungarian court in Kaposvar was very unexpected and if he must, then Cacic would serve his sentence in Croatia.
"Instead of the suspended sentence, the non-suspended ruling has remained which is absolutely unexpected. When we were in Hungary we enquired about the practise in such cases and were informed that sentences were usually suspended, particularly if the first instance ruling is suspended then it is almost certain that the court would not change it to a non-suspended sentence. So I have to admit that this is a great surprise", Prodanovic said after appearing in Zagreb County Court for the Hypo Alpe Adria and INA-MOL case against his client, former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
The lawyer added that he could not say too much about the ruling until he saw it and conferred with his Hungarian colleague on the matter.
Asked whether there was any other legal remedy available to Cacic, Prodanovic said that going by what his Hungarian colleague said, at this time that "there is no remedy that could defer the sentence".
He explained that this was a non-suspended sentence of one year and 10 months but parole was possible after serving half the sentence.
The 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and an additional Protocol to the convention in 1997 which Croatia confirmed in 1994 and again in 2009 allows the possibility for Cacic to serve his sentence in Croatia. By virtue of the Convention the sentenced person must request the transfer and both countries involved have to give their approval keeping in mind the principle of mutuality.
