Former first deputy prime minister Radimir Cacic has asked the Hungarian judiciary to allow him to serve in Croatia the sentence to which a Hungarian court sentenced him for causing a fatal road accident in Hungary in 2010, the Croatian Justice Ministry confirmed on Wednesday evening.
Cacic's attorney submitted the request to the Croatian Justice Ministry, which then translated it to Hungarian and sent it to the Hungarian Justice Ministry. The Hungarian judicial authorities do not have a deadline by which they are obliged to respond.
Earlier this month the court in Kaposvar sentenced Cacic to 22 months in prison for causing a car crash in Hungary in which two people died. Under the verdict, Cacic would have to serve half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Croatia and Hungary do not have a bilateral agreement regulating cooperation in the execution of prison sentences, however the Council of Europe's Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons allows Cacic to serve his sentence in Croatia, provided that the two countries reach an agreement on the matter.
Should the two countries agree that Cacic can serve his sentence in Croatia, the sentence should be converted through a judicial or administrative procedure, namely it should be recorded in the Croatian judicial system and without entering its content, adjusted with the Croatian Penal Code.
