In February, with 78 votes in favour, 60 against, and two abstentions, parliament appointed Ivan Turudic as the new state attorney general. Previously a judge at the High Criminal Court (VKS), Turudic replaced Zlata Hrvoj Sipek at the helm of the State Attorney’s Office (DORH), whose term ended in late May.

The new state attorney general dominated media headlines

Shortly before Turudic assumed leadership of DORH, the VKS judicial council rejected a complaint by VKS president Zeljko Horvatovic, who, with the consent of Supreme Court president Radovan Dobronic, had requested proceedings against Turudic for violating the Judicial Code of Ethics, citing his contradictory statements concerning former FC Dinamo chief Zdravko Mamic while Turudic served as a judge at the Zagreb County Court and Mamic was under investigation.

Meanwhile, the media revealed friendly correspondence between Turudic and Josipa Pleslic, formerly Rimac, a former state secretary accused of corruption. Turudic was repeatedly criticised by President Zoran Milanovic and remained in the spotlight following the Microscope affair, which led to the arrest of health minister Beros.

In two parallel investigations, the anti-corruption office USKOK accused Beros, the head of neurology at Zagreb’s Sisters of Charity Hospital, Kresimir Rotim, and businessman Sasa Pozder of corruption. Simultaneously, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb announced an investigation against Beros and seven others, including the former head of the Children’s Hospital in Zagreb, as well as businessman Hrvoje Petrac and his two sons.

After the suspects’ arrests in mid-November, DORH requested that the EPPO hand over the complete case file related to Beros’s case. The EPPO, in turn, requested that DORH hand over its file. The EPPO eventually handed over the case to USKOK, and Tamara Laptos of the EPPO’s Zagreb office sought protection for delegated European prosecutors in Croatia.

European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi filed a complaint against Turudic with the European Commission over the case, while the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney’s Office announced an investigation into leaked information from the EPPO’s probe.

Former ministers facing charges

This year also saw progress in determining the validity of indictments against former ministers Darko Horvat, Josip Aladrovic and Tomislav Tolusic, and deputy prime minister Boris Milosevic after the VKS rejected defence appeals seeking to exclude evidence as inadmissible.

The indictment against the former ministers and the Mayor of Zupanja, Damir Juzbasic, awaits further proceedings at the Zagreb County Court. Horvat, Tolusic, and Milosevic are accused of favouritism in allocating financial support to areas inhabited by national minorities, while Aladrovic and Juzbasic face charges of illegal hiring.

Media coverage in November highlighted the upholding of an indictment against former defence minister Mario Banozic, accused of causing a traffic accident a year earlier that resulted in the death of Goran Saric (41). Questions were raised about whether Banozic had alcohol in his system at the time.

Several government officials who were co-accused with former minister Gabrijela Zalac accepted plea agreements this year. One was Ivana Alilovic, a former regional development ministry official, who had arranged for a birthday party for Zalac to be paid with European funds.

The case concerning restaurant expenses is one of four legal proceedings brought against Zalac by Croatian and European prosecutors. She is also accused of lobbying for favourable Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development loans for entrepreneur Milenko Basic’s Krs-Padjene wind farm project at Josipa Pleslic’s request and of asking Pleslic to arrange her brother’s success in a state examination.

In addition to the wind farm affair, Pleslic has been accused of favouring a businessman and a former rector from Zadar, along with a series of other corruption-related offences. The indictments against her, as well as those against Zalac, are still awaiting judicial decisions on their validity.

Their defence teams are challenging the admissibility of the evidence collected by USKOK, including text messages between Zalac and Pleslic in which the initials “A. P.” are mentioned. These initials were the basis for the so-called Lex AP, adopted in March, which prohibits the disclosure of information from ongoing investigations.

Culture Ministry official arrested in EPPO investigation

In early May, following an EPPO order, Davor Trupkovic, former assistant to Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek and chief conservator in the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, was arrested on suspicion of corruption as part of an investigation at the Zagreb Faculty of Geodesy.

Trupkovic is suspected of facilitating overpriced assessments of earthquake damage to immovable cultural heritage in exchange for money and gifts. The weekly Nacional reports that the EPPO is also investigating Obuljen Korzinek in connection with this case, although she insists that all audits were completed without any objections.

In September, the trial of Medjimurje County Prefect Matija Posavec began at the Zagreb County Court. He is charged with abuse of power and taking bribes to ensure that his co-defendant, Josip Kobal, was reappointed as a member of the County Road Administration’s Steering Council.

The trial in the Agrokor case has not yet begun because the Zagreb County Court in January ordered DORH to amend the indictment against the former owner of the conglomerate, Ivica Todoric, and his co-defendants within a year.

During this period, DORH must appoint a new expert to conduct a fresh financial analysis of Agrokor’s business dealings. The initial analysis determined that Agrokor suffered damages exceeding one billion kuna during Todoric’s management. However, it was revealed that the expert and his colleagues who conducted the analysis were in a conflict of interest.

During this year, a trial at the Osijek County Court continued regarding the embezzlement of funds from FC Dinamo as part of a criminal organisation. Mario Mamic, the son of former Dinamo chief Zdravko Mamic, was sentenced, following a plea agreement with USKOK, to one year and four months in prison.

Additionally, he was fined €750,000 and is required to compensate Dinamo for damages in the amount of €2.08 million and to cover €70,000 in court costs. Zdravko Mamic and his brother Zoran, who are also defendants in this case, remain fugitives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

40 years in jail for years-long raping of underage daughter and wife

By mid-December, 18 femicide cases were recorded following legal amendments recognising femicide as a distinct crime. The harshest sentence of the year, 40 years imprisonment, was given to S. R. for the years-long raping of his wife and underage daughter.

July witnessed a mass murder in a Daruvar care home, where retired military policeman Kresimir Pahoki killed six people, with a seventh succumbing to injuries two months later.

Later this year, the public was shocked by the discovery of two neglected children’s bodies buried in a backyard. Their parents were arrested, and their third child was placed in protective care.

A knife attack this month at a Zagreb primary school by a 19-year-old also shocked the public, claiming the life of a seven-year-old child and resulting in the wounding of a female teacher and several other pupils.