Asked to explain the procedure, Krahulec told reporters that Gudelj, extradited from Australia and transferred to the Osijek prison on Sunday, was remanded in custody today. Gudelj's attorney Nedjeljko Resetar appealed against the ruling, and a final decision on the matter will be made by the Supreme Court.
Krahulec said that the County Prosecutor's Office did not change the indictment against Gudelj. The ruling on his detention dates back to June 2001 and it was on the basis of that ruling that an international warrant for Gudelj's arrest was issued, the judge said.
The first hearing in the case is expected to be held in mid or late September, the judge said.
Asked to comment on claims by Reihl-Kir's widow Jadranka that some witnesses had not been interviewed at previous hearings, Krahulec said that the hearing would start with the presentation of all evidence and that parties to the proceedings could propose new evidence related to facts.
Gudelj was sentenced in 1994 to 20 years in prison for triple murder and an attempted murder. The trial court found that he fired 30 bullets from his Kalashnikov machine-gun at a car carrying the Osijek police chief to negotiations on the normalisation of relations with rebel Serbs. Gudelj was sentenced in absentia because he fled the country shortly after the murders.
He was arrested by German police and extradited to Croatia in 1996. The Croatian Supreme Court then quashed the trial verdict and returned the case to the Osijek County Court. However, in May 1997, the Supreme Court suspended the proceedings and granted Gudelj a pardon in line with the General Amnesty Act. Explaining its decision, the court said that the murders were directly linked with the state of war and that Gudelj had committed them as a member of reserve police forces, while guarding a police checkpoint.
After his release, Gudelj left the country for Australia. Reihl-Kir's widow in June 1997 filed a constitutional complaint and the Chief State Prosecutor appealed against the ruling granting Gudelj amnesty.
Three years later the Supreme Court found that there had been no legal grounds to grant Gudelj a pardon and that the murders cannot be linked with the military aggression against Croatia, armed rebellion or conflict. However, the court could not change its previous final ruling.
In March 2001, the Constitutional Court upheld the complaint filed by Reihl-Kir's widow and returned the case to the Osijek County Court for a retrial.