Slovenia expected to hand over femicide suspect Josip Oršuš to Croatia

Slovenia is expected to hand over femicide suspect Josip Oršuš, who was arrested on a European warrant issued by Croatia after a deadly shooting near Mursko Središće last week.

Oršuš allegedly shot and wounded his partner and killed her pregnant sister on Thursday in a village near the border. He is currently being held in investigative custody in Slovenia. Once a judge approves the extradition, he is expected to be transferred to Croatian police custody.

Authorities confirmed that Oršuš has a long criminal record, with 35 previous charges, and acknowledged that the system repeatedly failed to impose serious consequences.

“This person had 35 criminal complaints against him. That tells you how much action police took. Unfortunately, out of 15 court rulings, he was sentenced to probation six times, and in the other cases the judgments or jail sentences were never executed,” said National Chief of Police Nikola Milina.

Attorney General Ivan Turudić described the situation as unacceptable.

“It's a pretty devastating fact. Of course, none of us should be satisfied with that. All crimes should be condemned, and femicide is a particularly odious crime. This is a blow to the state and the rule of law when there are 35 criminal complaints and they haven't been processed,” Turudić said.

Justice Minister Damir Habijan said he could not instruct the courts on sentencing, as doing so would breach the constitutional separation of powers. However, he stressed that judicial communication must improve.

“I could cross the Rubicon and say that the system should use every tool available — be stricter in sentencing, impose longer penalties, do whatever is necessary to ensure that someone with 35 criminal complaints is imprisoned. I could say that, but it would violate the constitutional principle of the separation of powers. We have a clear normative framework,” Habijan said.

“However, the courts must be more transparent in communicating with the public, and their spokespersons must respond to these types of questions," he added