The defence team for Zaja said today that following the ruling of the Zagreb County Court, their client can freely return to Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although he was handed a final judgment sentencing him to three years in prison for extortion, Zaja can ask for a retrial if he returns to Croatia, as he was tried in absentia, according to his lawyers.
On 19 May, Zaja was arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina on suspicion of involvement in an international cocaine smuggling ring, only to be released later the same day, as he was not viewed by the Bosnian judiciary as a flight risk.
Zaja was freed from custody as soon as he was questioned by Bosnian state prosecutors on suspicion of being a member of a gang that had smuggled cocaine to Europe in the value of EUR 23 million.
The spokeswoman for Bosnia's state prosecutors, Selma Hecimovic, said then that this investigation into Zaja was going on but that he did not need to be behind bars.
Zaja holds both Croatian and Bosnian citizenship.