Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader will not be remanded in custody if he mentions in public the cases in which he is accused or suspected, provided that his statements are not seen as coercion of a judicial official, which is a crime, the Zagreb County Court said on Thursday.
Sanader's release terms, alongside a record high HRK 12.4 million (approx. 1.68 million euros) bail, do no state that he must not predict the course of the proceedings against him.
Since he was in custody at the request of the anti-corruption office USKOK solely as a flight risk, Sanader is not allowed to leave Zagreb without the court's permission and must comply with summonses, Zagreb County Court spokesman Kresimir Devcic said.
He said Sanader's public statements could not be seen as a violation of the bail terms, but if in his statements he coerced a judicial official, that would be a crime, which is punishable with a fine or up to six month' imprisonment.
Aside from stating in public that he is innocent and that all the indictments against him are fabricated, Sanader has commented a number of times on his cases or the witnesses who accuse him.
Earlier this month, when he was indicted in the Planinska corruption case, Sanader accused State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic of waging a crusade against him with fabricated indictments. Sanader also said he regretted leaving Bajic in his office when he came to power because his actions had nothing to do with democracy or the law.
The media speculate that Sanader will have harsh words for USKOK and the state prosecution, which accuse him in a series of cases of corruption as well as war profiteering, this Sunday, when he is due to appear in a Croatian Television talk show, his first TV appearance since fleeing Croatia, his arrest in Austria and extradition to Croatia.
