Every day, we’re witnesses to injustice in Croatia, but there are still some people who make positive changes. One of them is Bozidar Novoselec and his team in the Sracinec Municipality. But, what they got in return is a pure reflection of envy, also known locally as “zagorski jal”.
As Varazdinske vijesti reports on the 6th of March, 2020, a few years ago, municipalities had to pay water management fees at the expense of Croatian Waters (Hrvatske vode). This increased the amount paid by households by about 200 percent, and of course, it happened that some households belonging to socially disadvantaged locals could no longer pay for it. More and more unpaid bills meant potentially more foreclosures on the most economically vulnerable locals of Sracinec and Svibovac Podravski.
And that is where the so-called crime of the Sracinec Municipality and the mayor is hidden – they didn’t immediately send the ”debtors” foreclosures. Because of this, they now have to pay high fines. Bozidar Novoselec has been charged with a fine of 40,000 kuna, and the Municipality of Sracinec has been hit with a 200,000 kuna fine.
“We in the Municipality of Sracinec are neither robots nor bureaucrats; we’ve been chosen by our locals, we’re at their service and we’re here to help. As soon as we saw the payment slips that we, as the Municipality, were forced to send to households, it was clear to us that a large number of payment slips would remain unpaid. We’re well aware of all of the households facing financial difficulties, we know of many older men and women who live alone and can barely make enough money for food. By sending foreclosures to these people, their survival would be jeopardised. Every year, we help people when they’re cut off from electricity or gas, we distribute assistance to retirees, and it’s important to know that social welfare is not the responsibility of the Municipality but of the state. We all know what foreclosure means – this means that the obligation to pay a hundred kuna bill can increase to 1,000 kuna for a bailiff. According to the interpretation of the law, we should have sent foreclosures to all locals who owed money. We didn’t want to do that. I can only say that the verdict is based on the law, but it isn’t based on justice,” stated Novoselec.
You’re probably now rightly thinking, who would sue a man who helps poor people who can barely survive on their low wages or pensions? Novoselec explains: “The municipality and myself were reported by one individual for not sending out any foreclosures to his fellow citizens. A misdemeanor charge has been filed, and the court has now imposed these draconian sentences [on us]. Unfortunately, due to the personal political ambitions of an opposition municipal councillor, who should be primarily aiming to help the residents of the municipality, we’ll be forced to send out foreclosures in regard to any bill that hasn’t been paid within the stipulated time. This is absolutely unacceptable to me, given the times we live in.”
Isn’t it interesting how much some people are indebted due to their ”need” to live a luxury life, and no attention whatsoever is given to them? Yet when someone does a good deed to those who actually are in need, other people can’t wait to find a way to criminalise it and punish them.
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