Over ten stabbings

Murder “partly out of revenge, partly out of jealousy”

Türk and Prisovec praise the good cooperation.

(Bild: Steiner Clara Milena)

What has taken place in Slovenia and Carinthia over the past few days sounds like a heinous crime story - but it is a tragic reality: after an Iranian man living in Klagenfurt stabbed his ex-wife and mother of his children to death in cold blood, he is in custody in Carinthia awaiting handover to the Republic of Slovenia.

The horrific scenes took place on Thursday: Slovenian police find a dead woman in the parking lot of Ljubljana Airport - she has several stab wounds. There is no trace of the perpetrator.

The identity of the woman is quickly established: she is a 33-year-old Iranian woman who lives in Klagenfurt with her three underage children. "The 33-year-old had only just landed at Ljubljana airport," says Slovenian investigator Luka Prisovec, head of the organized crime department of the Kranj police.

At the press conference on Tuesday, he explains the facts of the case to Slovenian and Austrian media - the press room in the Kranj police headquarters is filled to capacity. Prisovec: "The woman traveled from Istanbul. After she landed, she walked to her car, which she had parked in the airport parking lot."

Gottlieb Türk, Head of the Carinthian State Criminal Police Office, and Slovenian investigator Luka Prisovec, Head of the Organized Crime Department of the Kranj Police Department

(Bild: Steiner Clara Milena)

The media interest is great.

(Bild: Steiner Clara Milena)

According to the Slovenian police, the suspect - a 39-year-old man, also Iranian, who lives in Klagenfurt - was probably already waiting for the woman there: "He inflicted several stab wounds on his ex-wife in an insidious and cruel manner. He then left the scene of the crime in a car with Austrian license plates," said Prisovec.

"More than ten stab wounds"
A few hours later, the suspect - a 39-year-old man, also Iranian, who lives in Klagenfurt - is found and arrested: "The arrest happened at his workplace in a supermarket in Klagenfurt," confirms Gottlieb Türk, head of the Carinthian State Criminal Police Office.

"The accused was questioned immediately - he immediately confessed to stabbing his ex-wife with a knife in the parking lot of Ljubljana Airport," Türk continues. Prisovec adds: "More than ten stab wounds were found."

"Partly revenge, partly jealousy"
During the search of his home, a kitchen knife - presumably the murder weapon - and the clothes the man had been wearing during the crime were found: "The results of the house search and the forensics of his vehicle were handed over to the Kranj police headquarters on Tuesday. I was there myself," says Türk.

It is a femicide, the motive is partly revenge, partly jealousy. Revenge probably because of the divorce.

Luka Prisovec, Leiter der Abteilung Organisierte Kriminalität der Polizei Kranj (Slowenien)

"On the basis of the evidence gathered, there is a strong suspicion of murder under Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Slovenia," Prisovec clarifies. "In Slovenia, this carries a prison sentence of at least 15 years. It is a femicide, the motive is partly revenge, partly jealousy. Revenge probably because of the divorce."

The divorce was preceded by several arguments, even if there was no valid restraining order at the time of the crime: "The man came to Austria with his wife and two children in 2017 - the asylum procedure was negative, but both he and his wife were subsequently granted a valid right of residence," says Türk: "They got married in Iran in 2008 and divorced in Austria in 2023."

The couple's 14-year-old son and five-year-old daughter are still under medical care in Carinthia and will then be handed over to official custody. "The third child has been placed in a care unit in Carinthia due to a physical impairment," says Türk.