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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September 25, 2021 - An unsettling story in Croatia this morning as an Austrian father kills 3 kids in Zagreb, leaving a haunting Facebook message before committing the crime. Here is what we know so far. 

In the Zagreb settlement of Mlinovi, the police found three dead children and their father (56), who tried to kill himself at around 2 am. After being found in the apartment where he likely killed his three children - 7-year-old twins (boy and girl), and a 4-year-old boy, he tried to kill himself with poison or pills. He is now in the hospital and is stable, reports Vecernji List.

Zagreb police released a statement about the gruesome event.

"Today, September 25, at around 2 am in the center of Mlinovi, based on information about the announced suicide received from citizens due to posts on social networks, a 56-year-old man was found in the apartment who was in poor health when police officers entered.

Three children without signs of life were also found at the scene. The arrival of the ambulance confirmed the violent death of the children, while the man was transported to KBC Sisters of Charity, where he was kept for treatment. The investigation was conducted under the direction of the Deputy County State's Attorney, and a criminal investigation is underway," the Zagreb police said.

DORH also spoke about the case. "The on-duty Deputy County State's Attorney at the Zagreb County State's Attorney's Office conducted an investigation in Zagreb in the early morning hours of September 25, 2021, in cooperation with police officers, to find three dead bodies in an apartment. There is reason to suspect that he is an Austrian citizen (1965) who committed the criminal offenses of aggravated murder under Article 111 of the Criminal Code to the detriment of three minor children. The Zagreb County State's Attorney's Office, in cooperation with the police, is taking further measures and actions within its competence to determine all in a statement."

Croatian media have named him Harald Kopitz, an Austrian with a Croatian address, who lives and works in Zagreb. He worked in reputable Austrian leasing companies and had a consulting firm in Vienna. Before the brutal crime, he posted on social media stating that his girlfriend had left him because his ex-wife was bad to her and that he had run out of money. He also mentions his 'brothers from the Freemasons lodge.'

At the time of the crime, the mother of the children was not in Zagreb, and the children were spending the weekend with their father.

TCN will be updating this story as things develop. 

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