ZAGREB, May 19, 2020 - The Croatian Pensioners' Union (SUH) has pressed charges against Ivan Skaricic, director of a care home in Split, believing that it is necessary to investigate further his responsibility for the "biggest (COVID-19) hotspot and dying place" in Croatia.
In the charges filed at the Split municipal prosecutor's office for grave crimes against people's health, SUH said on Wednesday the Split home was "one of the deadliest coronavirus infection hotspots in Croatia" given that as of May 18, 69 of its residents have been infected and 18 have died.
Although inspections by two ministries found no irregularities, SUH said it had pressed charges against Skaricic believing that his responsibility for "this tragic situation" had to be further investigated because of "indications that the existence of the virus was unofficially suspected about ten days before it was officially detected in the home."
"Those ten days or so probably would have prevented some residents from getting sick and reduced the number of fatalities," SUH said in the charges, adding that the outbreak was discovered on April 7, when it was said that a dozen residents were infected.
SUH said Skaricic had publicly admitted that several days before a number of residents had a fever, yet this was not reported to epidemiologists because the home did not suspect COVID-19.
