Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who is serving an 18-year prison sentence for corruption and abuse of power, was seen walking around Zagreb, Croatian website Dnevnik reported, quoted by BTA.
When asked by Croatian TV Nova why Sanader was at large, the prison administration and the Ministry of Justice explained that they were not allowed to disclose information about prisoners. However, they pointed out that there were various breaks, such as a free weekend or annual leave.
Sanader was sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison and has so far served half of his sentence. For the past year, he has been running the library at the semi-open Lipovica prison.
Among the concessions for prisoners are more frequent and longer visits, unsupervised phone calls, staying with a spouse in a separate room, going out with or without visitors, "home leave", going out to carry out a special program in the community, as well as using annual leave at the place of residence, the prison system explained.
Sanader, who is 71, was Croatia's prime minister from 2003 to 2009, when he resigned without explanation.