Professor Željko Marušić has his say on the subject of Tomislav Horvatinčić's acquittal.
As RTL writes on the 14th of October, 2017, Željko Marušić posed an important question in relation to the events we've just witnessed surrounding the terms of Tomislav Horvatinčić's acquittal: What if those who've run red lights and killed a few kids in the process start to excuse themselves by saying they'd been ''suffering from syncope'' when it happened?
Traffic expert and Professor at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Science in Zagreb, Željko Marušić, referred to the well known Zagreb entrepreneur's acquittal as a "national embarrassment" and said that the judge who allowed him to walk free should be ''permanently excluded from the justice system".
"Once more, now dramatically, this shows that the justice system is the primary malignant tumour of all traffic problems, and all the other major irregularities are merely metastases,'' stated the traffic expert.
It is an unimaginable, dishonest and very dangerous judicial precedent, a scandal of par excellence, Marušić rightly stated.
He pointed out his concern that other judges, should they decide to use the level of ''logic'' displayed by the judge who freed Horvatinčić, could begin releasing the perpetrators of traffic accidents due to ''syncope'' or a temporary loss of consciousness, referring to those who've mowed children down after running a red light possibly walking free if they claim they felt a bit dizzy at the time. He added that the Croatian justice system is, once again, an embarrassment.
Marušić referred to the negative effects this instance carries with it in regard to traffic culture and the nature of such traffic accidents.
"How will a person ever trust the judiciary system [again]? What will foreigners think of us? Maja Šupe (the judge) should be permanently excluded from the judiciary system and someone should be banging their fists on the table and yelling - enough!"
Marušić isn't the only one to offer the public his reaction to this judiciary blunder which resulted in a man responsible for the taking of the lives of two innocent Italians walk free.
The response from the general public and the media has been a scathing one, leaving very many, like Marušić, questioning the state of 21st century Croatia, its national morals and the state of a justice system willing to punish football fans or a private person for not paying a small fee, but will gladly smile and wave as a millionaire with a questionable character who has taken multiple lives walk off into the sunset scott-free.
Numerous political figures have also been quick to publicly express their dissatisfaction with the tycoon's acquital, MOST's Nikola Grmoja called for Horvatinčić's driving license to be revoked. The fact that even that hasn't been done is horrendous to say the least, given the sheer severity of this upsetting situation.