ZAGREB, Aug 1, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Croatian court has ordered the release of former prime minister Ivo Sanader, serving an 18-year jail sentence over several corruption cases, a court spokeswoman said on Friday.

Sanader led Croatia into NATO and the European Union in the 2000s. He quit in 2009 and in 2022, he was sentenced to jail for 18 years over several cases that include taking bribes and stealing public money.

The county court in the central town of Sisak on Thursday ruled that Sanader be released since he has spent almost 11 years behind bars after his pre-trial detention -- or nearly two-thirds of his sentence, a court spokeswoman told AFP.

He will not be released before Monday, she said.

Sanader, 72, was the highest Croatian official to be charged with corruption since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.

Tackling graft was a key condition for Croatia's membership of the EU in 2013 but corruption remains endemic.

Several ministers from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's HDZ party have stepped down amid corruption allegations since he took power in 2016.