The Supreme Court previously upheld the Karlovac County Court's decision of February last year to prolong Karan's detention.
Karan was placed in custody after the Gospic County Court found him guilty of war crimes against prisoners of war, sentencing him to 13 years in prison. The verdict, which drew public attention because parts of its explanation were labelled as scandalous, was quashed by the Supreme Court, which ordered a retrial before the Karlovac County Court.
Although the verdict of the Gospic court was overturned, Karan's detention was extended. He appealed against the extended detention, but the Constitutional Court rejected the appeal.
The Supreme Court explained that "the extremely savage and inconsiderate conduct by the perpetrator while he was committing the (criminal) acts" constituted aggravating circumstances, which was why the indictee should be kept in custody.
Karan is charged with war crimes he allegedly committed against POWs as a member of Serb rebels in the Gospic area from December 1994 to mid-February 1995.
The Gospic court, which sentenced him to 13 years in jail, explained that the "ancestors of the indictee had arrived in (Croatian) areas with the Turks 500 years ago, when they were annihilating Croats together...". Such a wording was labelled by the public and law experts as scandalous.