http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7080943.eceAn alleged Serbian war criminal is to be extradited from Australia to face a war crimes tribunal after the Croatian Government won an extradition appeal today.
The ruling marks the end of a four-year-long battle by Dragan Vasiljkovic, 55, a former Serbian paramilitary leader, to avoid being returned to Croatia to face charges of murder and torture allegedly committed during the Balkans conflict between 1991 and 1993.
Mr Vasiljkovic was living in Perth and working as a golf professional when he was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in January 2006 after an extradition request by Croatia.
The Australian Federal Court ruled in December last year that Mr Vasiljkovic, who is an Australian citizen, could not be extradited because his political beliefs would result in his not receiving a fair trial.
Related Links
* Gloves come off as Europe steps up hunt for Balkan war criminals
* Comment: they were crimes then, they are crimes now
That decision was today overturned in the High Court in Canberra, clearing the way for him to be returned to Croatia.
While in prison, Mr Vasiljkovic attempted to sue The Australian newspaper for an article, published in 2005, which accused him of being a war criminal.
The defamation trial backfired on the former soldier, turning into a de facto war crimes tribunal as witness after witness apeared in court to detail crimes including rape, torture and massacre allegedly committed by Mr Vasiljkovic while he was commander of the paramilitary unit known as the Red Berets.
Anne McElvoy, a former Times journalist, gave some of the most compelling testimony, telling the court she was filled with "a great sense of foreboding" after an interview with Mr Vasilkovic at the Knin prison fortress in 1991.
"I am not here to kill people, just to neutralise the enemy," the commander known as Captain Dragan allegedly told Ms McElvoy. "When the Croat side uses hospitals or police stations in their villages as fortified positions, I'm sorry, I just have to massacre them."
In a landmark civil judgment, Judge Megan Latham ruled in favour of the newspaper, accepting Ms McElvoy's evidence as proof that the Serbian commander had admitted committing a massacre.
She also found that he had personally committed torture and condoned other such crimes by the troops under his command.
Former prisoners-of-war who were tortured by Mr Vasiljokovic and his men described to the court daily beatings with rubber sticks and bats, electrocutions and mock executions.
A Bosnian woman, named in court only as Source A, said she was raped four times by Mr Vasiljkovic, in a hotel in Zvornik in May 1992. She said she was taken to the hotel by Captain Dragan's men, who told her to await "the Prince".
Mr Vasiljkovic had emigrated to Australia as a 14-year-old, and served in the Australian army reserves. In the early 1990s he returned to the former Yugoslavia to fight with the Krajina Serbs against Croatian forces.
Throughout the trial he remained defiant. Denying that he had committed any of the alleged offences he nonetheless boasted of being a heroic figure who exercised absolute authority and enjoyed legendary status among his men.
"They [Serbs] heard about Captain Dragan, and you know there was this story about this mysterious man that came from Australia and that he is doing all this, you know, he can fly, walk on the water, do all those things,'' Mr Vasiljkovic told the court.
The former paramilitary leader, who goes by the name of Daniel Snedden in Australia, has continued to maintain his innocence. Last year he convinced the Australian Federal Court that he should not be sent back to Croatia to face a war crimes tribunal.
Under Australian law, an accused person can be exempted from extradition to another country if they "may be prejudiced at his or her trial, or punished, detained or restricted in his or her personal liberty, by reaons of ... political opinions".
However, Melissa Perry QC argued that the federal court had been wrong to conclude that Mr Vasilkovic's treatment had anything to do with his political beliefs.
Today the High Court's seven judges took just 15 minutes to overturn the court's decision, leaving the way open for Croatia to start a war crimes trial.
Mr Vasiljkovic was not in court to hear the judgment.
Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, is currently before The Hague, facing 11 war crimes charges, including two of genocide, for his alleged role as “supreme commander” overseeing the ethnic cleansing of Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
Topic: Dragan Vasiljkovic will be send to Croatia (Read 2551 times)