Zagreb Mayor Investigation Tapes Illegal, Court Says

Zagreb County Court on Wednesday ruled that secretly taped phone calls of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic and other persons must be taken out of the indictment put forward by Croatia's anti-graft body, the Office for Supressing Corruption and Organised Crime, USKOK.

The judges ruled that the implementation of such secret measures "were not justified" and were therefore illegal and breached Bandic's human rights.

As the taped conversations represent key evidence in the indictment, USKOK will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The County Court met on Wednesday to discuss the indictment in the case codenamed Agram - the old German name for Zagreb - against Bandic and 15 other persons, from both the city administration and private companies.

They are suspected of embezzling around 3 million euros, damaging both the city and state budgets and are accused of corruption, abuse of office and interest peddling.

The process against Bandic and the other suspects has turned into a saga ever since they were first arrested in October 2014, when USKOK stormed their homes and offices in search of further incriminating evidence.

Bandic was put into remand prison but released in November 2014, after his lawyer Marijan Hanzekovic, owner of the influential media hub Europa Press Holding, posted bail of 2 million euros.

On release, he was banned from communicating with witnesses and from holding office until the investigation was finished or the charges dropped.

In the next turn of events, Bandic was taken back to remand prison in March 2015 after USKOK claimed that he had tried to influence the witnesses.

He spent another month in remand prison, after which he was released under a decision of the Constitutional Court, while later he...