Croatia's prime minister has fired the interior and justice ministers and the country's police chief just hours after the "mafia-style" killing of a prominent lawyer's daughter.

Ivo Sanader's moves suggest he blames the three officials for not doing enough to fight organised crime in the country.

"I am going to propose to parliament that they confirm the dismissal of the interior and justice ministers [Berislav Roncevic and Ana Lovrin, respectively], as well as the chief of police [Marijan Benko]," Sanader said.

Croatian law requires a parliamentary vote to approve any such decision by the prime minister, but in this instance it is likely to be a formality as the opposition has been calling for such action for a long time.

Criminal gangs have flourished in Croatia since the war against ethnic Serb rebels between 1991 and 1995. Several groups are widely known to operate in Zagreb and other cities.

Ivana Hodak, 26, was shot twice in the head in the hallway of her home in downtown Zagreb on October 6, just a block away from police headquarters.

She is the daughter of Zvonimir Hodak, who is the lawyer for Vladimir Zagorec, the Croatian army general recently extradited from Austria over charges he stole $5 million (3.25 million euro) in jewels that were intended to fund Croatia's war effort in the early 1990s. Read more: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/13750/

Zagorec had appealed his extradition to Austrian authorities claiming his life would be in danger in Croatia.

Early on October 7, Ivana Hodak's killing still was under investigation and no suspects had been named. Sanader said the killing was an "awful tragedy that we fully condemn."

The Prime Minister said his government "won't allow organised crime to make the impression that they can do whatever they want without sanctions".

"The government and all the institutions concerned will do everything to quickly find the authors of this abominable crime," he said.

"We are not going to give organised crime the idea that they can do what they want with impunity. We are committed to an unrelenting struggle against organised crime, against the mafia."

The killing of Hodak came after a series of recent attacks in Zagreb, in which three men, journalist Dusan Miljus, the former director of Zagreb's communal company Zagreb Roads Igor Radjenovic and Josip Galinec, the chief executive of a local construction company, were badly beaten. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/13242

No perpetrators have been found and prosecuted in those attacks, triggering mounting criticism that the authorities were incapable, or unwilling, to fight crime.

Croatia hopes to become a European Union member by 2011 but Brussels insists the country does more to tackle deficiencies in the judiciary, corruption and organised crime.

Source: BalkanInsight.com