A Croatian court yesterday sentenced a man convicted of the 2003 murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic to 18 months in prison for using fake documents to obtain a passport, media reported.

Srecko Kalinic, 36, has already been sentenced in absentia in Serbia to 30 years in jail for his involvement in the assassination of reformist Prime Minister Djindjic.

In hiding since 2003, Mr Kalinic was arrested in Croatia in June after a mafia-style shooting incident and is to be extradited to Serbia “as soon as possible,” Croatian Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic told reporters.

A Zagreb district court sentenced him to 18 months in jail yesterday for using falsified identity documents to obtain a Croatian passport in 2006 and 2009, the Hina news agency reported.

He has eight days to appeal but the move “can not prevent his extradition,” Hina quoted Zagreb district court judge Kresimir Devcic as saying.

If Mr Kalinic is extradited, it would be first such a case under an agreement signed by Serbia and Croatia late June which allows the extradition of their citizens wanted or convicted in the other country for organised crime.

Last November Serbia’s top court rejected a final appeal and confirmed 40-year jail sentences for the mastermind of Mr Djindjic’s assassination, Milorad “Legija” Ulemek, and sniper Zvezdan Jovanovic.

Ten other suspects, including Mr Kalinic, were given jail terms of up to 40 years for taking part in the attack.