This decision is the first case of the extradition in accordance with a bilateral extradition agreement which Serbia and Croatia signed a month ago. The agreement stipulates a possibility for the two countries to extradite their own citizens to each other in cases of organised crime and corruption," Malovic said on Wednesday.
Kalinic, who holds both Croatian and Serbian citizenship, is likely to be the first Croatian national to be extradited by Zagreb to another country.
Serbia sent a request for his extradition on 11 June, three days after Kalinic was admitted to a Zagreb hospital due to wounds he sustained in a shoot-out outside the Croatian capital. Currently, Kalinic, who is believed to be one of high-profile mobsters in Belgrade, is kept in the prison hospital in Zagreb.
Recalling that the decision on his handover is not yet final and that it can be appealed, Minister Malovic said that she expected the Croatian judicial authorities to greenlight his extradition.
"The Zagreb County Court's decision is the confirmation of clear and firm cooperation between Serbia and Croatia in efforts to counter organised crime and corruption and prosecute perpetrators of those crimes," she said.
The Zagreb County Court has greenlighted the extradition of Sretko Kalinic to Serbia, and this decision can be appealed by Kalinic at the Supreme Court within three days, the court's spokesman spokesman, Judge Kresimir Devcic, told Hina on the phone on Wednesday morning.