Are the scales of justice in Croatia still red?

Former Croatian prime minister dr Ivo Sanader and his former political party (Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ) were found guilty on Tuesday 11 March in a Zagreb court of rigging public tenders and abusing and siphoning off state funds in the biggest corruption trial to date in Croatia. The trial had lasted over two years and, in the sense of demonstrating that Croatia was serious about fighting corruption, it certainly pumped positive strides in Croatia’s accession into EU membership in July 2013.
The Zagreb county court gave Sanader, already sentenced to 10 years’ jail in another corruption trial in 2012, a new nine-year sentence. The HDZ, now in opposition, was ordered to pay back about 29 million kuna ($5.26 million).
Reading her verdict, Judge Ivana Calic said Sanader and four other people had conspired to secure illegal funding for the HDZ from public…