BELGRADE, November 20 - RAPSI, Nikolai Sokolov. A Zagreb court has sentenced former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes and profiteering during wartime, the Croatian HRT national channel reported on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that Sanader be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Meanwhile, the prime minister has denied the charges.

The verdict was imposed under two counts, which were then united into a single charge.

Under the first count, the court found the politician guilty of holding talks on a credit agreement with the Nuro bank during the Croatian armed conflict in the 1990s.

According to prosecutors, Sanader received a commission from the bank amounting to 480,000 euro. The defendant held the post of deputy foreign minister. The commission was considered profiteering in wartime.

The second count dealt with Sanader's receipt of a 10 million euro bribe from the management of the Hungarian MOL oil and gas company. Pursuant to the prosecutor's office, he agreed with MOL's high-ranking representative in early 2008 to ensure the dominating influence of MOL over the Croatian INA oil company and gas agreements that would be unprofitable for Croatia.

Sanader headed the government from 2003 to 2009 and resigned at his own will.