Horvatinčić given house arrest for driving under court ban
An investigating judge has ordered businessman Tomislav Horvatinčić to serve a one-month investigation period under house arrest in his own home. His lawyer Fran Olujić has announced the possibility of an appeal.
House arrest instead of Remetinac for Horvatinčić
An investigating judge at Zagreb County Court has ordered a one-month investigation period under house arrest in his own home for businessman Tomislav Horvatinčić (78), according to 24sata. The reason is suspicion that he operated a motor vehicle despite a final court ban imposed alongside a sentence for a maritime accident in which two people died.
The measure was issued due to the danger of reoffending. The prosecution had requested detention in an investigation prison, but the judge chose a lighter option — house arrest. The decision is not final.
Horvatinčić will first be transferred to Remetinac prison, where he will remain for approximately a week until the technical conditions for monitoring house arrest in his home are secured.
Lawyer dissatisfied but accepts decision
Horvatinčić's lawyer Fran Olujić has announced the possibility of an appeal.
"We are not satisfied with this decision, but it is certainly better for us than if he had been ordered to prison in Remetinac for a month," Olujić stated.
Photograph sparked investigation
The case came to light after the portal Index published a photograph of Horvatinčić at the steering wheel of a car on Alea Bologne in Zagreb's Gajnice district. The police immediately after the publication, without revealing the person's identity, announced that it had launched an investigation.
The following morning, a 78-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of committing a criminal offence of non-compliance with a court decision. After a night spent in the Holding and Screening Unit at Oranice, Horvatinčić was brought in handcuffs for questioning to the Municipal Criminal State Attorney's Office in Zagreb.
Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović commented on the case: "I believe that the police reacted immediately upon first learning of this, arrested the gentleman and handed him over to the custody supervisor with a criminal complaint. In other words, this is a criminal offence of non-compliance with a court decision."
Lawyer: he obtained a valid licence
Olujić emphasised that Horvatinčić, after undergoing medical examinations in July this year, collected a driving licence at the Interior Ministry and was not warned on that occasion that he must not drive.
According to media reports, Horvatinčić is suspected of driving on multiple occasions between 28 August and 15 September this year, whilst the Index photograph taken on 18 September has not yet been covered by the report.
Multi-year history of the case
The ban on operating all motor vehicles was to begin applying after Horvatinčić served his sentence in July last year and was to last five years. In addition, in 2017 an administrative procedure was conducted in which his driving licence was permanently revoked due to officially established permanent medical unfitness — established by medical expert reports which his defence also relied upon at trial.
Horvatinčić was finally convicted in early December 2019 for a maritime accident from 2011 in which an Italian married couple, the Salpiertros, died. The sentence followed three retrials: at the first he was convicted conditionally, at the second acquitted on grounds of syncope, and at the third he received an unconditional prison sentence of four years and ten months, which Zagreb County Court in Zadar confirmed in December 2019.
He was first called to serve his sentence in March 2020, but submitted three requests for postponement. He finally reported to the Diagnostic Centre of Remetinac prison in mid-July 2021. In the meantime, media and members of the public photographed him on multiple occasions drinking coffee in Zagreb, Samobor and on holiday.
Horvatinčić claims that he has been suffering from a malignant disease for a number of years.
Earlier traffic record
According to Interior Ministry records, from August 1999 to February 2011 Horvatinčić committed 31 traffic offences, predominantly for speeding, and was involved in several traffic accidents with fatalities.
For the criminal offence of non-compliance or non-execution of a final court decision, according to 24sata, a prison sentence of up to two or three years can be imposed, depending on the gravity and nature of the breached decision.
Source: 24sata