Croatia Ruled by Mafia and Crime

After a wave of murders in the very centre of Zagreb, Croatia has become an unsafe country in the eyes of foreigners.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Foreign media have extensively reported about the murders of Nacional weekly’s owner Ivo Pukanic and his marketing director Niko Franjic, harshly denouncing the killings of the reporters, as well as the case of Ivana Hodak, who was killed only a week earlier.

UNESCO’s Secretary-General Koichiro Matsuura condemned the crimes, dubbing them a direct attack on the freedom of expression and speech.

- I condemn the killing of Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic. Such crimes against the press constitute an attack on the basic human right of freedom of expression and are doubly reprehensible for their adverse effect on society as a whole. I understand that the Croatian authorities have undertaken to work on this case, which is a heartening development, and trust they will be able to end the alarming acts of violence against the media in the country – Matsuura said.

Croatia can be compared to Bulgaria and Serbia

The murders, which many believe are connected due to ties with organised crime, placed a dark shadow on Croatia which was, until recently, considered a desirable holiday destination. Croatia has been compared to its neighbours, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Economist.com writes that, in cases of violence and corruption, Croatia can be well compared to other countries in the region such as Bulgaria and Serbia. A country that was until recently known for its coastal beauty, is now discovering ‘decay’ in the heart of the country due to the recent murders.

- Mr Pukanic’s targets were not just confined to Croatia. In 2001 his paper published a series of allegations linking leading politicians in other Balkan countries to smuggling and organised crime. These were republished in an opposition paper in Montenegro. In 2004 the editor of that paper was also murdered – The Economist continued.

- We pretended, even to ourselves, that we were always better than everyone else in the Balkans. Now this makes us seem as if we were only richer and had more sun – Ines Sabalic, a Croatian reporter in Brussels, told the Economist.

Killings interpreted as a political message 

In Britain’s The Guardian, Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulic wrote that she believes that the sudden increase in crime is the consequence of neglect in the fight against crime.

- In the last few years, killings of mafia bosses have occurred in the centre of the city, but perhaps not close enough to the circles of power – she recalled.

- Pukanic's murder, however, seems to be too close to it: he was known for being well-connected, with one leg firmly in the criminal world and the other in the political one. No wonder that his murder shook the government and was interpreted as a political message – she wrote.

- For the first time it became fearfully evident that the institutions of the state designated to protect citizens are not capable of doing their job. The explosion in the centre of Zagreb is a result of almost two decades of deliberate neglect of serious crimes. The problem – far from being unique to Croatia, of course – is the elaborate network of criminals, politicians, big business and the police – Drakulic continued.

Entry into the EU in question

As the Croatian government is mostly focused on the country’s accession into the European Union, Croatia’s entry has been placed in question after the string of murders.

The Time writes that the attacks have placed a grain of doubt on whether Croatia can quickly curb the spreading of corruption and organised crime and achieve its goal of joining the EU next year. But the worst thing is that the wave of crime and violence may be just the beginning.

- We have reached a point when separating state officials from corrupted journalists and gangsters has almost become impossible. I'm afraid that this is not the end – a Croatian journalist, Sasa Lekovic, told Time.