Croat doctor jailed for graft

A Croatian court has sentenced a surgeon to nine years in prison for taking bribes, concluding a corruption case that had attracted intense media attention in the EU aspirant state.

The surgeon, who pleaded not guilty, had been accused of taking 210,000 kuna ($43,570) in bribes between 1998 and 2006 from patients who needed urgent surgery.

The verdict came as Croatia seeks to prove it has stepped up efforts to counter graft - a major hurdle for the country's EU membership bid - before Brussels issues a progress report in November. Zagreb hopes to join the bloc in around 2011.

Analysts said a positive assessment was not certain, citing Brussels' continued concern about corruption in Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the bloc last year.

"Action plans have been made (in Croatia), but essentially not much has changed," said political analyst Zeljko Trkanjec. "There have been no large-scale police operations, no concrete results."

Croatia sent a new anti-graft plan to Brussels in June.

"The EU will not turn a blind eye or yield an inch on this demand," Mr Trkanjec added. "They were bitten by Bulgaria and Romania and now know it is too late to demand more action after a country joins."