ZAGREB, 2 July 2022 - Two 25-year-old nationals of Georgia have been arrested on the suspicion of attempted murder of three Croatian nationals in Mali Lošinj on the northern Adriatic island of Lošinj, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Friday night when the two men argued with the three Croatians, aged 21, 22 and 25, and stabbed them. Two of the stabbed men suffered serious injuries.

All three injured men have been taken to a hospital in Rijeka, while the suspects have been placed in custody.

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ZAGREB, 21 June 2022 - The crime resolution rate in Croatia in 2021 was the highest since the country declared independence, at 73.1%, shows a report on police work, adopted at a government session on Tuesday.

The report contains information on police results in fighting and preventing crime, and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said that the number of property-related crimes dropped by 4.1% in 2021, continuing on years of positive trends regarding crimes that have the biggest effect on citizens' subjective feeling of safety.

The number of cases of grand theft in 2021 was the lowest in the past 10 years, as was the number of burglaries, while the number of cases of grand theft auto and larceny was the lowest in the last 20 years, said the minister.

He added that there were 30 murder cases in 2021, a drop of 16.7% compared to 2020. The year 2021 was the fifth year to see a decrease in the number of murder cases.

Compared to 2020, the police reported 69.5% more corruption-related crimes and 46.1% more perpetrators.

The number of organised crime cases investigated was up by 11.6%.

A total of 100 war crimes were reported, twice as many as in 2020, and the quantity of drugs seized was 7.5% greater than in 2020.

The number of illegal border crossings dropped by 40.18%, while the number of reported cases of people smuggling grew by 37.1%, Božinović said.

Despite the increase in road traffic volume in comparison to 2020, 2021 was the second consecutive year with the lowest number of road fatalities, 292.

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ZAGREB, 7 June 2022 - Fifty-six percent of persons aged 15-24 in Croatia did not access pirated content over the past year, while 28% did so intentionally, according to a European Union Intellectual Property Office survey.

Of those who did so intentionally, 77% accessed films, followed by TV series and shows (68%), music (48%), software (45%), live sport events (34%), videogames (41%), and e-books (21%).

Thirty-one percent of respondents in Croatia intentionally bought a fake product, most often clothes and accessories (12%), electronic devices (8%), shoes (7%), and cosmetics, perfumes, and personal care products (5%).

The survey shows that 52% of European respondents aged 15-24 bought at least one fake product online, while 33% accessed digital content from illegal sources.

Thirty-seven percent bought a fake product intentionally, while 21% used, played, downloaded or streamed content from illegal sources, the most in Greece (62%) and the least in the Czech Republic (24%).

The fake products young people in the EU buy intentionally are most often clothes and accessories (17%), shoes (14%), electronic devices (13%), and cosmetics, perfumes, and personal care products (12%).

As for digital content, 60% of respondents did not use, play, download or stream content from illegal sources over the last year.

The survey shows that 21% of young consumers consciously accessed pirated material in the last year, with 12% doing so by accident, while 7% don't know if they did.

Films accounted for the most pirated material (61%), followed by TV series (52%) and music (36%).

The survey shows that price and availability remain the main reasons for buying fake products and digital piracy, but peer influence and social influence are becoming increasingly important.

Cyber threats, fraud and environmental impact are among the most important factors deterring young people from fakes and piracy.

The survey was conducted on 7-28 February, covering 22,021 respondents in the EU-27.

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ZAGREB, 23 Feb 2022 - Eight people from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are suspected of smuggling at least 119 Turkish nationals across the border in the wider area of Dubrovnik and Dalmatia, on 21 occasions in 2021 and 2022 and earning HRK 370,000, Dubrovnik police have reported.

Following months of a police investigation, seven Croatian nationals and one from BiH have been suspected of multiple crimes of illegal entry, movement and residence in Croatia and other EU member states.

"The group helped at least 119 Turkish nationals to illegally cross the border and gained HRK 370,000 for that", the police said in a press release.

"Two main perpetrators were remanded in custody while the BiH national had been taken into custody earlier. The remaining five suspects have been reported as accessories", the press release said.

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February 23, 2022 - The State Attorney's Office has filed an indictment against Harald Kopitz, who killed his three children in Zagreb's Mlinovi last year. He faces up to 50 years in prison.

As reported by Total Croatia News, in September last year Austrian citizen Harald Kopitz was arrested by Croatian police in Zagreb for the murder of his three children. 

Harald and his wife were divorced, and she left her children to spend the weekend with their father while she was on a business trip in Dubrovnik. On the night of September 25, following a worrying Facebook status posted by Kopitz that was later reported by his contacts, Zagreb police entered Harald's apartment only to find the dead bodies of the children and their father in critical condition after attempting suicide.

Harald Kopitz, an Austrian citizen residing in Zagreb, was arrested by the police for the alleged murder of his three children, which was later confirmed. In the Facebook status he posted, Kopitz wrote something of a farewell letter, noting that his ex-wife thwarted their current love relationship and that his job situation was not improving. In addition, he stressed that he did not receive the necessary support and that he was ''at the end''. The worrying post caught the attention of his contacts, who reported it to the police. You can read the full story here.

As Index.hr reports today, the State Attorney's Office (DORH) has filed an indictment against Harald Kopitz for the murder of his three children. The Austrian citizen faces up to 50 years in prison.

"Following an investigation, the Zagreb County State's Attorney's Office filed an indictment before the Zagreb County Court on 23 February 2022 against a citizen of the Republic of Austria (1965) for three offenses against life and limb and three aggravated murders under Article 111. items 1 and 2 in conjunction with Article 51 of the Criminal Code. 

The indictment charges the defendant that on September 24, 2021, at around 10:00 pm, in Zagreb, in the apartment where he was staying with his three minor children (2013, 2013 and 2016), with a premeditated intention to deprive the children of their lives, took advantage of the children's trust in him as a father and committed the aforementioned criminal offenses to the detriment of the children. In the indictment, the Zagreb County State's Attorney's Office requested that the defendant's pre-trial detention be extended until the end of the criminal proceedings due to the danger of recidivism and particularly serious circumstances of committing this criminal offense (Article 123, paragraph 1, items 3 and 4 of the criminal proceedings)", announced the DORH.

Let us remind you that Kopitz killed his three children in Zagreb's Mlinovi at the end of September, and then tried to kill himself. He was sentenced to pre-trial detention because of the danger of repeating the crime, so as not to influence witnesses and because of the particularly difficult circumstances of the crime he is suspected of.

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ZAGREB, 22 Sept, 2021 - Government officials and representatives of the judiciary on Wednesday attended a commemoration at Zagreb's Municipal Court for three women killed at that court 22 years ago. 

On 22 September 1999, during a divorce hearing, Mato Oraškić killed his wife Gordana, her attorney Hajra Prohić and judge Ljiljana Hvalec as well as wounding court reporter Sanja Cvetković.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said the perpetrator had been given a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and called for joint, strong and coordinated action in preventing violence against women.

"In partnership with civil society organisations we have enabled progress in the cooperation of all government agencies, introducing stricter penalties, improving procedural law, and ratifying international treaties such as the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which has made it possible for us to align our legal order and improve legislative and procedural frameworks for dealing with that phenomenon," said Plenković.

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in an increase of violence but noted that the number of misdemeanor reports for violence had decreased while the number of criminal reports had increased.

Sanctions are now harsher and the message of the government and the entire society to abusers is that violence is unacceptable and that the victims are not alone, he said.

Attending the commemoration were also European Association of Judges President Đuro Sessa, Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica, and Supreme Court Deputy President Marin Mrčela, who all called for raising awareness of the problem and resolutely fighting and preventing violence. 

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ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Police in the northwestern Krapina-Zagorje County have filed misdemeanor charges against eight persons protesting outside a primary school in Krapinske Toplice against the obligation for children to wear face masks in school. 

The police have filed 26 reports and they refer to an attempt to disturb the public peace, unreported public assembly in a place where public assemblies are not allowed, refusal to wear a protective mask indoors, and refusal to show police one's ID card.

Police also reported that a child's parents were reported for offences against the Identification Card Act and the Act on the Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases, and that the competent social welfare service had been informed accordingly.

Police said that over the past few days, several people had continued rallying outside the school in Krapinske Toplice in violation of the Public Assembly Act, which was why police presence there was required.

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ZAGREB, 24 Aug, 2021 - Prosecutorial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and former football coach Zoran Mamić's attorneys said  on Tuesday that they were opposed to his extradition to Croatia, claiming that the legal requirements for his extradition had not been met.

Mamić's attorney Zdravko Rajić and Davor Martinović presented their arguments why Mamić should not be handed over to Croatia.

Croatia's judiciary has requested Mamić's extradition on three grounds: to conduct his retrial based on a Supreme Court ruling quashing a part of the relevant verdict handed down by Osijek County Court ruling, to get him serve a sentence of four years and eight months based on a final ruling; and for the purpose of an investigation into the bribing of three Osijek judges who were in charge of the cases against Zoran Mamić and his brother, former football mogul Zdravko Mamić.

Mamić's attorneys claimed that these were no grounds for extradition.

His attorneys claim that the entire court proceedings against Mamić in Osijek are deeply contaminated because the judges in the proceedings are currently being investigated for graft.

Martinović claimed further that the decision for the imprisonment of the Mamić brothers was still not final because they had not yet submitted an appeal against that decision.

On 12 August the Bosnian court deliberated a separate extradition request for Zdravko Mamić, however, a decision has not been delivered yet.

The prosecutorial authorities in Sarajevo were opposed to the extradition, similarly to previous cases.

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ZAGREB, 28 July, 2021 - Defence Minister Mario Božinović said on Wednesday the Croatian Armed Forces had zero tolerance for drug abuse, and in the context of the latest drug abuse cases, the minister announced stricter control and disciplinary measures aimed at reducing drug abuse to a minimum and protecting the reputation of the Croatian Armed Forces.

Speaking to the press ahead of an inner cabinet meeting, Banožić said that in accordance with the Drug Abuse Prevention Act, the military police were implementing emergency control measures.

He confirmed that along with the four soldiers who had tested positive for drugs in early July, another three soldiers tested positive for illegal substances last Friday while one more soldier tried to avoid testing.

A total of 30 soldiers in barracks in Split, Ploče, Udbina, Delnice, Vinkovci and  Velika Gorica have been tested so far and drug testing will continue.

The minister expects everyone in the Armed Forces to make joint efforts to prevent drug abuse, announcing a set of measures to deal with this problem.

Banožić said the military police were still investigating recent suicide cases in the Armed Forces and that the public would be notified of the results of the investigation in due course.

The minister also announced increased counselling for members of the Armed Forces.

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ZAGREB, 26 July, 2021 - The Croatian Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by British national Douglas Cane, upholding a ruling sentencing him to 24 years in prison for murder and attempted murder at the Zrće beach on the northern Adriatic island of Pag in June 2018.

Without revealing the identity of the accused, the Supreme Court said that the sentence by the appellate court was appropriate given the accused's profile and the circumstances of the crime.

The Supreme Court said that the sentence was neither too harsh nor too lenient, recalling that Cane was sentenced to 17 years in prison for murder and to eight years for attempted murder and that he was given a combined sentence of 24 years.

The court cited his earlier convictions in the UK and his attempt to flee Croatia after the crime. He had shaved his head in an attempt to disguise his identity, police said at the time.

Early in the morning of 27 June 2018, after an argument with three persons, Cane attacked and stabbed Briton Ugo Wilson to death. The other victim, also a Briton, rushed to help Wilson but Cane stabbed him as well, using a sharp object resembling a knife. The man was rushed to the hospital and survived.

The media said at the time that it was most likely a showdown of drug dealing gangs.

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