ZAGREB, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian Supreme Court on Wednesday partly upheld the verdict following the retrial in the Fimi Media corruption case, under which the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party was fined 3.5 million kunas (about 540,000 U.S. dollars).

In addition to the fine, the HDZ must also return around 14 million kunas (about 2.1 million dollars) of illegally obtained funds, according to the Supreme Court verdict.

Meanwhile, the prison sentence of Ivo Sanader, the former Croatian prime minister and former head of the HDZ, was cut from eight to seven years.

Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that the HDZ respected the rule of law and would comply with the Supreme Court's ruling, highlighting that the current HDZ leadership had nothing to do with the corruption case.

Sanader, along with several other HDZ officials, was convicted of illegally financing the ruling party by channeling money from public companies through the Fimi Media company. The initial trial opened in April 2012, but the verdict sentencing Sanader to nine years in prison was overturned in 2015. At a re-trial last year, the Zagreb County Court sentenced Sanader to eight years in prison, and ruled that the HDZ party was also responsible for the corruption. Enditem

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