Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic expressed profound concern regarding the shooting incident involving the car of the newly appointed Attorney General, Ivan Turudic, stressing the need to await the results of the police investigation and, dismissing claims that the entire incident was fabricated.

“The fact that Turudic evidently noticed some damage to his vehicle, with two bullet holes found at the service centre where he takes it for maintenance, is extremely troubling. It’s evident that someone shot at his car,” Plenkovic told Croatian Radio,

He said the police are currently conducting an investigation. “We need to wait to see what actually happened. However, it’s deeply concerning that someone apparently shot at the future Chief State Prosecutor and his car,” he said.

Responding to a journalist’s remark that interpretations suggesting the entire case is fake have already surfaced in public, the Prime Minister was surprised and asked who said it was fake.

“Is that so?” he asked and added: “Well, if that’s the case, then it’s fake. Two bullets in the car – no big deal. These are likely the same individuals who, three and a half years ago, downplayed the attack carried out by Danijel on Bezuk outside the government headquarters and shooting at police officer Oskar Fijurij.”

This is all because of a deteriorated political culture; Milanovic spreads hate speech

Plenkovic said it is not good to trivialize such serious situations and recalls that one of Turudic’s predecessors, Dinko Cvitan, continued to have security for over four years after stepping down as Attorney General and drove in an armoured car.

“These matters demand serious consideration. The propagation of hate speech in the Croatian political arena,  primarily by Milanovic, often leads to the dissemination of such messages at various levels. Some resort to violence, while others resort to verbal abuse. All of this is the result of the degraded political culture over the past four and a half years. That’s the root cause of everything,” he assessed.,” Plenkovic said.

The journalist then asked if anything would change with Turudic’s withdrawal from the position of Attorney General, to which the Prime Minister again asked “what she meant” and added that it was not up to him to respond to that question at all, “nor does he see it on the agenda.”

“Well, I don’t know. I have to admit that I’m surprised by such a question. I think the much more serious question is whether we can conduct a very detailed investigation into who, where, how, and why shot, and why this happened. That’s the real question,” he added.

Grbin’s hopeless coalition

The journalist responded by saying that that the question was posed in the context of Turudic being talked about as the trigger for the entire pre-election campaign and that her question was whether the whole situation would be alleviated if Turudic were to step down.

“I have to admit that I’m appalled by such a perspective,” said Plenkovic, adding that Turudic was chosen through the prescribed procedure, after which, he emphasised, Milanovic launched a personal campaign against Turudic.

“And his henchmen joined in, who without him can’t do anything and don’t mean anything. Whose coalition has already fallen apart – neither the SDP can align with We Can!, nor We Can! with the SDP,” he commented, describing the coalition around the SDP as the “Grbin’s hopeless  coalition.”

“And now, even after it’s clear that shots were fired at Turudic’s car, you’re asking me if he should step down,” Plenkovic added, calling such a thesis flawed.