Hodak: Murders May Have Been Ordered In Zagreb

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Attorney Zvonimir Hodak commented on the latest media claims, which reveal that the murders of his daughter Ivana Hodak, Nacional weekly co-founder Ivo Pukanic and the paper`s marketing director Niko Franjic were connected.

According to a Croatian daily, Slobodan Djurovic, supposed best man of Sreten Jocic aka. Joca Amsterdam, failed a polygraph test on essential questions. After being arrested, Djurovic denied connection with Robert Matanic, but the polygraph stated otherwise. Questions if he had something to do with the murder of Ivana Hodak and if Montenegrin entrepreneur Stanko Subotic and Sreten Jocic were linked with the mentioned murders resulted in Djurovic`s reaction, which has opened a new page for the investigators in the process of shedding lights on these serious crimes, even though the polygraph test cannot be used as evidence.

- I have known that Djurovic failed the polygraph test for some two weeks now, but this can be circumstantial, because it cannot be used as evidence. Until some of them [suspects for the Pukanic and Franjic murders] becomes a penitent witness and decides to tell the whole story, nothing will change – Hodak told us, whose daughter Ivana was shot on October 6 in downtown Zagreb, in broad daylight.

Executioners from the East, orders came from Zagreb

Until now, Hodak claimed that his daughter`s murder had nothing to do with the assassination on Pukanic, and even though he still has the same belief, he now leaves an open option that both cases might be connected.

- It is possible that people from the East did it, who received orders from Zagreb. I believe this. However, my daughter` murder surely has nothing to do with Pukanic`s when it comes to the motive.

They did not even know each other, or had any sort of a business relation – Hodak believes, who is still focused on his work and the biggest case he is currently working on, the defence of Vladimir Zagorec, despite the unthinkable tragedy which hit him and his family.

Slobodan Djurovic was arrested with Milenko Kuzmanovic when they met up with Robert Matanic, near the Serbian border crossing. The two of them are suspected or organising the escape for Pukanic`s assassins and his other helpers, the Matanic cousins and Amir Mafalani. The suspects for the assassination, Zeljko Milovanovic and Bojan Guduric are still at large.

Unlike the `bomb in Nacional` case, the investigation of the Ivana Hodak murder has not yielded any traces so far, which might shed light on it.