A Catholic nun from Croatia who claimed she was attacked with a knife turned out to have self-harmed, and police plan to prosecute her on charges of false reporting.
The 35-year-old nun was admitted to a Zagreb hospital on Friday with minor abdominal injuries. After being released from the hospital, she went to a police station and filed a report.
According to police, she claimed that a stranger approached her and stabbed her.
The “attack” on the nun sparked a wave of Islamophobic and anti-immigrant comments online and in some conservative media outlets. Some wrote that the attacker was a foreign worker or immigrant and that he shouted “Allahu Akbar” when he hit her.
"The attack on the nun in Zagreb is an attack on the values ??of Croatian and European society, which is rooted in Christianity," said Marijana Petir, a conservative MP, calling for "a swift investigation" into the case.
But after the police fully investigated the case, they concluded that the nun had been injured with a knife she had bought in a shop.
False reporting is punishable in Croatia by three years in prison.