Given that eyewitnesses reported hearing no shots, the pistol used to put two bullets into the head of Ivana Hodak probably was fitted with a silencer. Her death, however, brought rumbling concern about organised crime in Croatia into uproar.

Hodak was shot dead in Zagreb on October 6. A young lawyer who was the daughter of a lawyer acting as defence counsel for a former general on trial on charges of stealing $5 million worth of diamonds given as collateral to the country's defence ministry to buy weapons, she was also dating a lawyer. Immediately after her death, Croatian media reports suggested that her murder was linked either to her father's involvement in the trial of former general Vladimir Zagorec, or because her lawyer friend supposedly had access to information about organised crime groups.

Her death came about a month after a daily newspaper published a leaked version of a report ordered by the European Commission and said to have been compiled by a former Europol police officer that concluded that organised crime was on the rise in Croatia and the country was ill-equipped to fight new crime techniques.
Plotting trends by now familiar in Central and Eastern Europe, the leaked report said that "people from the organised crime world are trying to use their illegally gained money to invest in legal business activities".

Apart from financial crimes, the report said that "traditional forms of organised crime like arms, drugs and human trafficking as well as money forgery are still very important in Croatia".

In another note that would have a familiar ring in Bulgaria and similar countries, the report said that while parliament had amended laws to bring them up to European Union standards, law enforcement agencies lacked staff and finance and adequate regulations on jurisdiction. State institutions were not co-ordinated and there was no database on organised crime.

After the Hodak murder, prime minister Ivo Sanader fired the justice and interior ministers and chief of police, announcing that he would ask Parliament to confirm Ivan Simonovic, Tomislav Karamarko and Vladimir Faber, respectively, in these posts.

Sanader told a news conference: "I expect swift police action. It is high time we cracked down on the mafia".

"I decided on non-party people because ... they were top experts with a good reputation among the Croatian public [and] can cope with the problems we have in Croatia," Sanader said.

He said that Croatia had faced tougher requirements in its negotiations with the EU because of "Europe's problems with Bulgaria and Romania" after these two countries joined the EU in January 2007.

AFP quoted political analyst Davor Gjenero as saying: "The move of the prime minister is very good...and is helping to strengthen democracy in Croatia."

The BBC reported that Zagreb has been hit by a wave of mob-style violence in recent months. A prominent crime reporter, a city administration official and a construction firm boss are among those who have been subject to assaults in various separate incidents.

Croatia - a candidate since 2005 to join the EU - was called on by European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn to take comprehensive and appropriate steps against crime.
Croatian website Javno reported that Ivana Hodak's father, Zvonimir Hodak, told Croatian broadcaster HTV that Hrvoje Petrac, a businessman serving six years in jail for kidnapping, had ordered the murder of his daughter Ivana Hodak.

Through lawyers, the Petrac family sent an open letter to the Croatia media rejecting Zvonimir Hodak's allegations.