Robert Matanic was sentenced by the court to 33 years in prison and Djurovic was given 15 years for the assassination of Ivo Pukanic, a journalist and co-owner of the Nacional weekly, and the death of Pukanic's associate Niko Franjic in Zagreb in 2008.

The defence teams moved the release of their clients, Matanic and Djurovic, claiming that they have been unlawfully behind bars since 29 October this year, when the maximum three years for their detention in custody expired.

The court's spokesman, Kresimir Devcic, said that a panel of judges of the Zagreb County Court today rejected the defence counsels' arguments.

Djurovic's lawyer Zeljko Zganjer said he would lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court.

In November 2010, the Zagreb County Court sentenced six men accused of killing Pukanic and Franjic to a total of 150 years' imprisonment. Robert Matanic, charged with putting together a criminal group, was sentenced to 33 years in jail. His cousin Luka Matanic and their friend Amir Mafalani were each given 16 years.

Zeljko Milovanovic, who committed the murder by activating a device that blew up Pukanic, was sentenced in his absence to 40 years in jail, while Bojan Guduric, who was to have shot Pukanic if the explosive misfired, was given 30 years.

Djurovic was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for being the killers' connection with Sreten Jocic, who allegedly paid EUR 1.5 million to have Pukanic killed. Jocic is on trial in this case in Belgrade, together with Milovanovic and Zoran Kuzmanovic.

Apart from killing Pukanic and Franjic, the accused were also charged with endangering other people's lives and causing major material damage with the explosion in front of Nacional's building in downtown Zagreb on 23 October 2008.

This judgement is now being dealt with by the Croatian Supreme Court that has to decide on appeals lodged against the Zagreb County Court's guilty verdicts.