Before boarding the flight to Zagreb, Jovic told reporters "I assume the initial hearing, at which I will enter my plea, will be held today ... and I expect to be back in Split this evening".
"Of course I will plead not guilty and I don't expect any surprises," Jovic said.
Jovic's departure is part of security measures so as to ensure his arrival before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which indicted this former editor-in-chief of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily for contempt of court.
An investigating judge of the Split County Court yesterday decided to discontinue Jovic's detention.
Jovic was arrested on October 6 by Croatian police acting on a September 28 arrest warrant issued by the Hague tribunal after he failed to appear before the UN court to plead. On 9 September, the tribunal indicted him for having revealed in his articles the identity and excerpts of a testimony of a protected witness at the trial of former Bosnian Croat military leader General Tihomir Blaskic.
The judge decided on the termination of Jovic's detention after his lawyer suggest on behalf of Jovic that the court should make it possible for him to travel to The Hague, cutting short any further procedure before the Croatian courts.