VINKOVCI, CROATIA – A citizen of Vinkovci was unpleasantly surprised when the police entered his apartment and found a pirate version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and the program package Microsoft Office. He is facing a possible three year prison sentence for the possession of illegal software.

The municipal state attorney’s office has filed a criminal report, but he says that it is unbelievable.

“I filed a complaint and I admitted all of the claims in the indictment were correct, but it is unbelievable for me that somebody can be accused of such things, because this can occur to anybody who has a pirate cassette, children’s game or something similar, and they can spend three years in prison” said the 31 year old Vinkovci resident, reports the newspaper Vecernji List.

During a search of his apartment, it was determined that the accused has used pirate software for 5 years. This sort of offence carries a punishment of up to three years in prison, but in practice it ends with a conditional sentence.

“The police usually do not have the habit of going into people’s houses and searching computers. These arrests are usually the result of other investigations like currency counterfeiting, various threats or operations to stop child pornography” says the spokesperson of the Vukovar-Srijem police department, Tomislav Iljic.