Croatia Reduces Yugoslav Spy Chief’s Jail Sentence
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Josip Perkovic in court in Germany 2016. Photo: EPA/PETER KNEFFEL. |
Zagreb County Court decided to convert the life sentence handed down in Germany to former Yugoslav State Security Service official Josip Perkovic for abetting the murder of a Croatian émigré to 30 years in jail.
The court reduced the sentence because Croatia’s criminal code does not include life imprisonment and prescribes a maximum jail term of 40 years. Perkovic is expected to be transferred from Germany to Croatia to serve his time in prison.
Perkovic, alongside his former superior Zdravko Mustac, was sentenced to life in prison in August 2016 for abetting the murder of émigré Stjepan Djurekovic in 1983 in a garage in Wolfsrathausen near Munich, where he printed anti-Yugoslav propaganda material.
Mustac headed the Croatian branch of the Yugoslav State Security Service at the time, while Perkovic was chief of its department responsible for émigrés.
The extradition of Perkovic and Mustac to Germany in 2013 was a long and politically controversial process.
Both of them have appealed against their convictions, but the appeals were dismissed in May this year.
Perkovic and Mustac are both still in prison in Germany, but according to regional television channel N1, they are expected to be returned to Croatia in January 2019 at the earliest.
Mustac’s sentence will be decided by another Croatian court.
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