The diversion ultimately failed, and journalists Boris Dežulović and Viktor Ivančić will remain registered at their current addresses. The Croatian Victimology Society and the Association of Croatian Political Prisoners reported that Dežulović and Ivančić were not living at their registered places of residence. However, the complaint proved to be a complete “dud”, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.
“We inform you that we received the complaint and conducted the appropriate procedure in accordance with the Residence Act. During that procedure it was established that the legal conditions for deregistering the residence address ex officio were not met”, the Split-Dalmatia Police Administration told us.
The Croatian Victimology Society and the Association of Croatian Political Prisoners claimed that Dežulović and Ivančić did not live at their registered addresses, but the report turned out to be unfounded. During the verification, police found Ivančić at his home, while Dežulović, who was absent at the time, reported back later and proved that he had not moved away.
The Split-Dalmatia Police Administration explained that residence refers to the place and address in Croatia where a person has permanently settled in order to exercise rights and obligations related to life interests such as family, professional, economic, social, cultural and other interests. In accordance with the law, citizens are obliged to report any change of residence.
“Article 12 of the Act regulates ex officio deregistration procedures from the residence and temporary residence records for persons who are found never to have lived at the registered address, as well as persons who lived there but moved elsewhere within Croatia or abroad without reporting the change or deregistering their residence. The police administration or station in whose area the person has registered residence has the authority to issue a decision on deregistration ex officio if a field check establishes that the person does not actually live at the registered address, or if it receives such information from public authorities or other legal or natural persons”, the police stated.
Law enforcement checks all reports regardless of whether the submitter is known or anonymous. Since the law entered into force in 2012, police have continuously conducted ex officio deregistration procedures for persons found not to live at their registered address.
We were also interested in how many complaints had been submitted by individuals over the past two years.
“In accordance with Article 14 of the Act, the residence and temporary residence database includes, among other data, information on persons whose residence has been deregistered ex officio. Based on Article 12 of the Residence Act, 3,639 persons were deregistered ex officio in 2025, and 3,046 persons in 2024”, the police stated, noting that the number of reports filed by individuals or legal entities may be higher, since not every report results in deregistration.
The case filed by the Croatian Victimology Society and the Association of Croatian Political Prisoners clearly demonstrates this.