Spokesman for the court Kresimir Devcic said that the appeal lodged by Zagreb lawyer Kresimir Krsnik against the court's decision to open the probe was dismissed as groundless. This means that the ruling about the investigation is now final.
The lawyer's other appeal against the detention of his client will be considered only after Zagorec is arrested and taken into custody, the spokesman said, explaining that it was court practice that an appeal against detention can be considered only upon a detainee's imprisonment.
Krsnik also asked that investigating judge Erna Drazancic be removed from the case. He believes that she cannot be impartial and that she has made many procedural omissions so far.
Spokesman Devicic said the Zagreb County Court's president, Mirjana Rigljan, would likely decide on the matter tomorrow.
The prosecution charges retired Croatian General Zagorec with having embezzled five million US dollars from the Croatian budget when he took away jewelry in 2000 when he was Assistant Defence Minister. The jewelry was handed over to him by a German arms dealer in 1993 as a guarantee that Croatia would get weaponry for which the Defence Ministry had paid in advance five million dollars.
Zagorec, who has been living in Austria for several years, was arrested in Vienna last Tuesday on an international warrant.
On Friday he was released on bail of one million euros.
Croatia is going to ask Austria to extradite Zagorec, who is believed to have been involved in other murky dealings in the 1990s, but he opposes his extradition.
The Viennese law firm Lansky and Ganzger, representing Zagorec in Austria, announced an appeal against Croatia before the European Court of Human Rights.
Lawyers Gabriel Lansky and Gerald Ganzger told the press in Vienna on Wednesday that they would fight against Zagorec's extradition to Croatia as they believe that "the background of his arrest was a politically-motivated plot ahead of elections in Croatia".
Lansky said they were going to appeal before the European Court of Human Rights due to the violation of his client's human rights and due to false accusations against him.
He recalled that Zagorec had been living legally in Austria for seven years as a businessman.
The lawyer also holds that the charges against Zagorec about the stolen jewelry from the ministry's safe were false.
Lansky also said that he did not expect fair proceedings in Croatia, asserting that the "Croatian judiciary is corrupt".
An investigating judge in Vienna should get comprehensive documentation from Zagreb before deciding on extradition, most probably in late April, the lawyers said..