Judge Christina Forstner told reporters that the extradition decision had been postponed due to new evidence submitted by the defence, adding that the new audio evidence, two DVDs recorded in Croatian and English, must be translated into German.
Zagorec's Austrian attorney Michael Dohr said he was satisfied with the course of the proceedings. He declined to reveal the content of the DVDs because of which a part of today's extradition hearing was closed to the public. The Austrian lawyer said today's hearing was in accordance with his expectations, namely that witnesses gave statements and that now the court needed to make a decision.
Zagorec declined to give statements to the Croatian press. His attorney requested that the extradition hearing be closed to the public but the judge overruled his request.
The testimonies of three witnesses were heard at today's hearing. The witnesses are arms dealer Jozef Rothaicher, Zagorec"s business partner Roman Binder, and an official in the Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Anti-Terrorism, Mario Krajnc, who stated that he had first come into contact with Zagorec in 2003, in connection with efforts to locate the then fugitive General Ante Gotovina.
Zagorec's attorney Dohr reiterated several times during the hearing that his client"s arrest was politically motivated, and that he would be denied a fair trial if extradited to Croatia. Dohr also said that statements which Croatian President Stjepan Mesic made during an official visit to Vienna "only caused harm to Zagorec", but declined to specify which statements he was referring to.
During the visit, Mesic and his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fisher praised the cooperation between the two countries' judicial bodies. Mesic also said that the alleged secret bank accounts must be thoroughly investigated.
Croatia indicted Zagorec for the abuse of office and embezzlement of $5 million of state money in jewels.
He is also suspected of laundering large amounts of money in the Hypo Alpe Adria Bank.
The Austrian weekly Profil has reported that he might have laundered money also in the Austria Creditanstalt bank.
Zagorec has been a resident of Vienna for seven years.
He was arrested in March on an international warrant issued by Croatian courts, and was later released on a €1 million bail.
Zagorec has opposed extradition in all of his appearances before the Vienna court.