Croatia cracks down on organised crime after car blast
Leaving an emergency meeting of Croatia’s national security council, Sanader pledged his government to fast-track a new package of anti-mafia laws.
“We promise final score-settling with organised crime, mafia or terrorism,” Sanader said, adding his justice and interior ministers would inform the public about the new measures on Wednesday.
Ivo Pukanic, founder and owner of the Nacional independent weekly, was killed outside his paper’s offices in downtown Zagreb on Thursday night in the third mafia-style killing in the capital since the beginning of the month.
Pukanic’s car exploded as he and marketing director Niko Franjic approached the vehicle, police said. They both died and two others were injured in the blast.
“It was done by a professional, there is no doubt about it since certain skills and knowledge are needed for such an act,” a police spokesman said.
Tackling organised crime is one of the criteria Croatia must meet on its path towards membership of the European Union, which Zagreb hopes to join by 2010.
Earlier this month Sanader sacked his interior and justice ministers and the head of the national police after a daughter of a prominent lawyer was shot dead in a stairwell.
Zagreb has not seen such a wave of violence since the country’s independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
Pukanic, 47, had been considered one of Croatia’s most controversial journalists. His murder came only months after he survived a gun attack in downtown Zagreb in April. The attacker was not found.
Local media voiced outrage at the killing of the nationally prominent journalist which dominated the front pages of Croatian dailies.
“Terrorism” and “State of Emergency” read the headlines of the Jutarnji List and the Vecernji List, which both carried large photos of the burnt-out wreckage of Pukanic’s car.
The EU has also strongly condemned the killing.
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