Croatian Defence Ministry Says Soldiers’ Suicides Aren’t Connected

The Croatian Defence Ministry held a press conference on Tuesday to address public concerns after the fifth death of a Croatian soldier in recent weeks was reported on Monday.

Officials said that each case was unique and that the deaths, of which four were suicides, did not happen in military barracks or while they were on active service.

Branko Hrg, the state secretary at the Defence Ministry told said that the soldiers, "like all of us", had their personal problems and situations to deal with.

General Ivica Olujic stated that in the past 20 years, there have been one to four cases of suicides each year in the Croatian Army, except in 2011.

This year, five cases were recorded: suicide by hanging in three cases, one using a gun and the other with a hand grenade.

Four of the suicides happened recently, starting on June 8, when a soldier was found dead in Zagreb County. Two days later, on June 10, another was found dead in Bjelovar-Bilogora County.

The body of the third dead soldier was found in Varazdin County on July 9, and the fourth soldier was found on Friday in Zagreb County.

According to the Defence Ministry, a female soldier from the eastern Vukovar-Srijem County was also found dead on Monday.

The reason for her death, and whether it was a suicide, has not been made clear as the Ministry said that in all five suicide cases recorded this year, the deceased soldiers were males.

"Given that these events took place relatively recently, investigations are still ongoing," Olujic said.

He added that the army has several dozen psychologists, enough for its needs.

"We can't name anyone [from the system] who failed. There are serious reasons why some of these people committed suicide," Olujic...

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