Croatia's High Criminal Court has upheld the Osijek County Court ruling against former police IT specialist Franjo Varga and his accomplice Blaz Curic, sentencing Varga to three and a half years in prison and Curic to two years for obstructing evidence in the so-called text messages case.

According to the indictment, between mid-2017 and September 2018, Varga created fake text messages to show that the former director of Dinamo Zagreb Football Club, Zdravko Mamic, and the former owner of the Agrokor agricultural and food conglomerate, Ivica Todoric, were the victims of politically motivated proceedings.

Curic was found guilty as an accomplice because in September 2018 he alerted Varga that he was under investigation.

The trial court found it was beyond doubt that the defendants had committed the crimes alleged in the indictment.

Mamic has been beyond reach of the Croatian judiciary since June 2018 when he escaped to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina. He holds dual Croatian and Bosnian citizenship, and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s court has turned down Croatia’s requests for his extradition.