On April 13, the 28-year-old American woman playing for the Gospic-Industrogradnja Basketball Club reported to the police that she had been raped in her hotel room by the hotel owner in the central town of Gospic.
The police issued a press release, describing the act of sexual violence in explicit detail and revealing the victim's identity, while at the same time withholding that of the suspect.
The case prompted a response from the US Ambassador to Croatia, Ralph Frank, who requested an explanation from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice.
The suspect, identified as Josip Mraovic, 57, of Bilaj, was arrested on Friday evening and remanded in custody.
In the statement, the HNS wondered whether the Croatian judiciary would have responded in the same way had the US ambassador not intervened and whether the police would have withheld the identity of the perpetrator had he not been a well-known businessman and "local power-broker".