After conducting an investigation, USKOK filed an indictment against two Croatian citizens (1989, 1991) for abuse of position and authority in an attempt, as well as for forgery of an official or business document.
The indictment charges defendants I and II with using the authority of police officers from the I. traffic police station of the Zagreb Police Department, assigned to patrol in the area of the Jastrebarsko Police Station, to gain undue material benefit on August 30, 2023, around 1:30 PM, in the area of Zagreb County.
Acting with this intent, they unauthorizedly left the area of the Jastrebarsko Police Station where they were assigned. They then exchanged the official vehicle with police markings, assigned to defendant II, with an official vehicle without visible police markings, assigned to defendant I, and headed to state road D-10, where they could not be located in official duty records at that time.
On the mentioned road, near the exit for Vrbovec, the defendants, intending to gain undue material benefit by collecting money from traffic participants for committed violations, stopped an official vehicle used by USKOK. They asked the USKOK driver for her driving license and vehicle registration, informing her that she was driving at a speed higher than allowed. However, upon realizing that they had stopped an official USKOK vehicle with state attorney officials inside, they did not demand payment for the alleged violation but instead asked for her mobile phone number, saying they would contact her, and then left the scene. They did not issue a document for the alleged violation nor actually establish it.
The described activities of the defendants raised suspicions about the legality of their actions, which USKOK immediately reported to the police.
To cover up their unlawful conduct, the defendants certified a service report with their signatures, stating that they had monitored vehicle speed in Jastrebarsko, Donji Desinec, and Klinča Sela that day, and included data on drivers they allegedly dealt with, which did not correspond to reality.
Further information about the accused police officers indicates similar abuses of position in previous cases. For example, several police officers from the Sisak-Moslavina Police Department, including two who unjustifiably used firearms against a driver, falsely portrayed their intervention and submitted false reports to avoid personal responsibility. They were also accused of conspiring to falsify documents to avoid criminal liability.
In additional cases, such as the indictment against three traffic police officers in Zagreb, the police officers falsely recorded another person as the driver at the request of a driver who committed a violation, and then submitted forged reports to conceal the true identity of the offender. Such indictments highlight the problem of abuse of position and authority among officials, and USKOK's ongoing efforts to investigate and prosecute such activities in court.
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Creation time: 25 July, 2024