After Austria extradited retired General Vladimir Zagorec to Croatia last week, the daughter of Zvonimir Hodak, his Zagreb lawyer, was murdered yesterday in Zagreb. The motives and circumstances of the murder of Ivana Hodak are currently unknown. Media speculate that they may be related to the Zagorec case.
Viennese lawyer for retired General Zagorec, Elizabeth Rech, emphasized that the police are protecting Zagorec’s family in Vienna as they assessed that the situation is dangerous. She did not rule out that this murder could be a message to Zagorec. In response to the question of what kind of defense Zagorec can have now that the murder of his lawyer’s daughter has jeopardized his work, Rech stated that she hopes there is such a brave and determined lawyer in Croatia who can deal with this. Croatian authorities suspect Vladimir Zagorec of having taken jewels worth $5 million from the Ministry of Defense as he left his position as Assistant Minister of Defense in 2000, which were left as a deposit for the procurement of weapons for Croatia. (www.hrt.hr)
