Department of Corrections head Branko Peran has said that Ivo Sanader knew that he was going to the Zagreb County Court for the beginning of his trial in the Hypo bank case on Friday morning, thus denying claims by the former prime minister who told the trial chamber that he would like to apologise for coming dressed casually because he had been told that he was going to hospital.
"Prisoner Sanader was informed yesterday by Department of Corrections clerks that he was going to court and his escort was conducted just as it had been on several occasions before and there were no problems," Peran told press on Saturday, adding that Sanader was escorted from the Remetinec prison to the court in accordance with the procedure applicable to all prisoners.
However, the defence team on Saturday again insisted that their client did not know that he was being escorted to court.
Lawyer Goran Suic told reporters that Sanader had not been given breakfast on Friday morning as he had been told by his doctor to come to the KBC Zagreb hospital for check-ups on an empty stomach.
Lawyer Jadranka Slokovic, another member of Sanader's team, told Croatian Television on Friday evening that upon leaving the cell in Remetinec, Sanader was told that he was going to hospital for tests.
She claimed that she had heard off the record that somebody from the justice ministry had ordered that the van transporting Sanader to hospital should change route and drive to the court for the beginning of the trial.
Peran said that the doctor had made an appointment for Sanader's tests at 1000 hrs Friday, a half an hour after the scheduled commencement of Sanader's arraignment.
According to Peran, indictees in investigative custody are in the jurisdiction of the court and the Corrections Department takes all measures and steps in agreement with the court.
"We do nothing on our own, and we bring prisoners to the court at the scheduled time," Peran told press. He denied claims that the van carrying Sanader changed its direction and drove to the court instead of to the hospital.
"This is not true. The vehicle drove directly from the Remetinec prison to the County Court at Zrinjevac (downtown Zagreb)," he said.
Asked when Sanader would be transferred back to Remetinec, Peran said that he could not answer that question and that now it depended on the decision of the doctors examining Sanader.
The defence counsel also said they did not know when Sanader would go back to Remetinec and whether he would be fit to appear in court for arraignment on 3 November.
The trial of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was adjourned on Friday before arraignment after an expert witness established that due to health problems, Sanader was unfit for the hearing. Later in the day, Sanader was admitted tom the Zagreb clinical hospital, and according to a medical report, he was to be detained in hospital at least until Saturday. Late on Friday afternoon, the head of the Clinic for Heart and Coronary Diseases at the KBC hospital in Zagreb, Davor Milicic, said that Sanader's condition was such that it would not be necessary to detain him in hospital for further treatment.
Lawyer Suic believes that Sanader will be detained in the Rebro hospital until Monday.
We think that everything depends on the outcome of his tests, Suic said adding that as far as he knew, the findings of Holter monitoring were not very good. A Holter monitor is a continuous tape recording of a patient's EKG for 24 hours.
Suic reiterated that in the past three weeks Sanader had experienced heart and pressure problems.
The former PM and HDZ chief is charged with war profiteering in the Hypo Bank loan case as he is believed of having taken in the mid-1990s, when he was Deputy Foreign Minister, 3.6 million kuna in commission for a loan Croatia got from the Austrian Hypo bank.
This is the first case against Sanader which has entered the trial stage. Sanader has been in custody at Remetinec prison since mid-July, when he was extradited by Austria.
