Comments Reveal Doubt in Work of Police - Current Events - Croatia

Citizens are sceptical in the Hodak case, to the level that you can feel the nation’s cry of disbelief: `Oh please!´.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - If we are to judge by the public reaction to the news that Ivana Hodak’s murderer was arrested, the homeless man Mladen Slogaric who realised that Ivana’s father was to blame for his failed life after 15 years, there is a really small number of people who believe in the truth of the events.

A homeless man, who sold his apartment and has no money with him, but keeps the pistol that killed Ivana. WHY DID HE NOT SELL IT TO SOMEONE??????? – a reader comments.

The comments by people under articles on all internet portals, as well as people waiting in line, bakeries and stores are nearly the same. As soon as the first unofficial information leaked, the citizens were sceptical to the level where at one moment you could feel the disbelief of the nation in the air: “Oh please!”.

The first thing that “disbelievers” doubt is regarding the newest police success is the fact that the homeless man lost his job, money and house over his head, but still kept the pistol. It is also very improbably that he decided to take revenge after 15 years.

“Why did he not take revenge immediately?” ask readers, and many of them do not believe that after so many years Slogar could recognize Ivana Hodak at all, considering that the last time he saw her she was 12 years old. Statements by witnesses immediately after the murder also support the sceptics. The witnesses say that they saw a man around 35 years old escaping from the entry to the building in which Ivana was murdered. Slogar is nearly twice the age of the man that the witnesses described.

Why would a guy out of the blue go and kill a teenager, the last time he saw her was 15 years ago when he had ties with Hodak, how did he know how she looked like, etc… with a casual glance you can see that it is a story for little children. The guy is in debt – he needed money, he resells cigarettes to earn, probably for some larger boss, it is clear to everybody that he only did somebody’s job.

However, there are those that believe that the homeless man killed Ivana, but consider that the whole story about revenge was made up in order to cover up the people that ordered the murder.

“It is obvious to everyone that the man only did somebody’s task” it says in the many comments, whose message is clear: Slogar is a scapegoat.

Group scorn of the police

There are some speculations that were caused by the unusual statements by the police at an unscheduled press conference. Slogar, according to the words of police leaders who have already contacted the State Attorney’s Office, will be charged with homicide, even though experts and article 91 of the criminal law clearly state that is an act committed due to careless revenge which is classified as murder. The mentioned insinuations aim that Slogar accepted the guilt in an agreement with the police, and the act is classified as homicide because Slogar did not accept more serious circumstances. Besides criticizing weak evidence (and reading between the lines if polices statements you can see that there is only one piece – the famous pistol), the group scorn of the police started, which even the foreign media joined in on. They remembered all of the talk about organized crime, the ordered murder and combating the mafia, because of which many heads fell – from the top and down lower. “Seeking mafia members, they found a homeless man” are only some of the headlines that describe the competence of the Croatian police.

He is 61 years old, he plotted revenge 15 years, kept the gun with him for three months, witnesses did not notice any old man. Congratulations to anyone who believes this! They finally found a scapegoat. It only took them four months to find a poor person to load it onto.

The Croatian president Stjepan Mesic praises the work of the new police staff, and glorifies his former chief of staff and current police minister on the work done. However, when a close minded person’s mind stretches a little and looks at the big picture, the success of the new staff drastically changes – “they needed four months to catch a homeless man”.

Regardless if this is a copied scenario from a Hollywood crime story, or a fairy tale plot from one of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, or the people do not want to believe, or cannot come to terms with the possibility that the human mind is so unpredictable, cruel and immoral – no truth, even if it is total, cannot replace the immeasurable loss that the Hodak family experienced.