Lawyer Marijan Pedisic said on Thursday that his client Petrac had asked the Greek authorities to speed up the procedure for his transfer to Croatia from Greece, where he was arrested a year ago after he was in hiding for some time.
According to the lawyer, Petrac will ask for his retrial upon his arrival in Croatia.
A group of 10 men were found guilty of Tomislav Zagorec's abduction in February 2004 with Ivan Matekovic and Hrvoje Petrac being regarded as the masterminds of the operation. Ivan Matekovic and Petrac, who were tried in absentia, were given prison sentences of seven and six years respectively.
The then 17-year-old Tomislav Zagorac was kidnapped in front of the family house in Zagreb on 23 February 2004 and was released four days later after his father, retired General Vladimir Zagorec, paid 750,000 euros, half the ransom demanded.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry, Vesna Dovarnic, told Hina today that Petrac's extradition from Greece could be expected soon, bust she declined to speculate about the exact date. It is the Greek Justice Minister who should make a final decision on Petrac's hand-over to Croatia.
Lawyer Pedisic today dismissed media speculations about connections between the announced extradition of his client and the recent surrender of the last fugitive member of this gang, convicted for the said kidnapping.
On Tuesday evening, Nikola Matekovic, a fugitive convicted of involvement in Zagorec's abduction, voluntarily surrendered to the Zagreb's district prison Remetinec after two and a half years in hiding.
The 28-year-old Matekovic, the youngest of three Matekovic brothers convicted of that crime, is to serve a 18-month term in prison.