Supreme Court upholds verdict in deadly 2009 train derailment

The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling in the case of the worst railway accident in modern Croatian history.

In July of 2009, a train derailed near Kaštele, killing six passengers and injuring 55 others. The cause of the accident was an untested flame retardant that had been sprayed onto the tracks.

Of the five defendants charged in the case, Croatian Railways executive Ivica Medak was sentenced to four years in prison, while consultant Ivica Bazin was sentenced to three years. The other defendants were acquitted. The court confirmed that the retardant, a chemical sold by an American company, caused the tilting train to slip out of the tracks. The train was unable to break because the tracks were slick from the substance. The flame retardant had not been tested because no one at Croatian Railways had ordered one.

The indictments in the case were handed down a year after the accident happened. The County Court issued its ruling in 2013. It took the Supreme Court five and half years to schedule hearings and come to a final decision in the case.