The Appellate Court in Linz on Tuesday turned down former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's appeal against extradition custody in Salzburg, the deputy spokesman of the Salzburg prosecutor's office, Marcus Neher, told Austrian news agency APA on Thursday.
The Linz court said it turned down Sanader's appeal because he posed a flight risk, but concluded that there was no risk of his concealing evidence.
The court said that, in light of the serious accusations and expected severe punishment in Croatia as well as the "intense stimulus to flee," custody could not be replaced with milder means.
Court spokesman Guenther Winsauer said, however, that Sanader could request again to be released from custody.
In the meantime, the Austrian prosecutor's office for the fight against corruption set February 3 for Sanader's next hearing, according to spokesman Friedrich Koenig.
Sanader will not be questioned via videolink as was the case on December 23, Koenig said, adding that investigators and a prosecutor from Vienna would question Sanader in Salzburg, either in prison or at the prosecutor's office.
According to Sanader's attorneys, he appealed extradition custody on December 30.
He has been in custody in Austria since his arrest on December 10 on a Croatian warrant, issued on suspicion of corruption. The Austrian authorities, too, are investigating Sanader on suspicion of money laundering via a Tyrolean bank.
