The decision to release Mercep was made by the Zagreb County Court after the Supreme Court quashed its previous decision to extend detention and urged the court to ask the opinion of the prison hospital. Since the hospital cannot provide Mercep with the care he needs, the County Court decided to release him so he can be treated in civilian hospitals.
Mercep had a stroke four years ago and has trouble speaking and walking. Because of health problems, court police escorted him several times to the Krapinske Toplice health spa, where he is now and where he was when he was indicted in June 2011.
Ujevic told Hina the conditions in the prison hospital were unbearable and that they led to a deterioration in Mercep's condition in recent months.
Before his trial began, doctors established that Mercep was fit to stand it with certain precautionary measures, including the presence of a doctor during the hearings.
Under the indictment, between October 8 and mid-December 1991 Mercep's Interior Ministry reserve units, acting on his orders, unlawfully arrested 52 people in the Kutina, Pakrac and Zagreb areas, killing 43. Three are missing and six survived the torture to which they were subjected.