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| “ | How would you feel if your neighbor raped you for three weeks and the government gave him a medal? | „ |
| ~ Marta about Stefan Tanzic. |
| “ | I just want to be with my family. | „ |
| ~ Ragova's last words. |
Anya Ragova and Marta Stevens are the main antagonists of "Payback", the pilot episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. They are two Bosnian women who were raped and tortured by Serbian soldier Stefan Tanzic during the Bosnian War, and who castrate and murder him years later in New York City.
Ragova was portrayed by Gordana Rashovich, while Stevens was portrayed by Mili Avital.
Biography[]
Background[]
Stevens and Ragova are from a small village in Bosnia, where they both worked as schoolteachers. When the Bosnian War broke out, Serbian soldier Stefan Tanzic, a mutual acquaintance of both women who commanded an ethnic cleansing unit, kidnapped, raped, and tortured them both, while also murdering Ragova's husband and grandson.
Ragova and Stevens managed to escape Tanzic's captivity and relocate to New York City, where Stevens found work at a graphic design firm and Ragova opened a restaurant. Stevens was pregnant with Tanzic's child when she left Bosnia, and married American businessman Robert Stevens when the child, a boy who looks just like Tanzic whom she named Nicky, was a baby.
One day, Ragova hailed a taxi driven by Tanzic, who had fled Bosnia under indictment for crimes against humanity and was living under the name Steven Green. She recognized him immediately, and later conspired with Stevens to kill him. They stalked Tanzic for weeks, memorizing his routine, before finally ambushing him and cutting off his penis before stabbing him to death.
"Payback"[]
Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigate the murder, believing Tanzic to be "Victor Spicer" because he was using the real Spicer's hack license. They eventually uncover his true identity and learn of his crimes, and interview his surviving victims, including Ragova and Stevens. Both claim that they were at work at the time of the murder, although both admit to hating him and being glad that he is dead. Benson and Stabler notice that Ragova has a cut on her hand, which she claims is from a kitchen accident.
Eventually, Benson and Stabler uncover enough evidence to prove that Ragova and Stevens killed Tanzic, and arrest Stevens first while she is at work. They then go to Ragova's restaurant to arrest her, but she commits suicide by stabbing herself before they can take her into custody. As she dies, Ragova whispers to Stabler that she wants to be with the family that Tanzic stole from her.
At the SVU precinct office, Stevens confesses to killing Tanzic, but claims that she and Ragova committed the murder on impulse after randomly getting into Tanzic's cab. Benson and Stabler suspect that the murder was premeditated, but choose to accept Stevens' story because they feel sorry for her and believe that Tanzic got what he deserved. Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael evidently feels the same way, as she gives Stevens a lenient sentence: Eighteen months in a psychiatric facility.
Trivia[]
- The two women are similar to the killers of Sean Nokes in the movie Sleepers, with each having tracked down and murdered a man who sexually abused them years earlier.
External links[]
- Anya Ragova on the Law & Order Wiki
- Marta Stevens on the Law & Order Wiki
