ZAGREB, CROATIA - The Croatian Supreme Court has reduced the sentence given to Josip Mraovic, for raping the American female basketball player Illisha Jarret in Gospic back in 2005. The sentence was reduced from three to two years.

Mraovic appealed to the verdict given by the court in Rijeka in February 2008, seeking to be freed of charges. He and his attorney Zvonimir Hodak consider that serious violations in the law on criminal procedure were made in the closed doors hearing, and that the facts were wrongly or not fully determined.

Facts

The Supreme Court concluded that the lower level court correctly determined all of the facts and rejected the appeal on all accounts. However, the Supreme Court determined that the punishment was too high, so they reduced the sentence by one year.

Mraovic’s lawyer Zvonimir Hodak said that he will file a constitutional court law suit, because he considers that the violation of the law on the criminal process violated Mraovic’s human rights.

Since the very beginning, the case concerning the rape of the American basketball player has attracted great interest, and some scandalous moves by various institutions and Mraovic have further increased that interest.