Dear Senator Brandis

Thank you for your letter of 4 May 2010 relating to the Public Policy general principal of Reciprocity that governs extradition treaties.   It has been brought to my attention that the information in your second paragraph is not correct, as Extradition between Australia and Croatia has only existed since 2003, and this as “one-way” extraditions of Australians ( but not reciprocal). 

Historically there was a Treaty between Great Britain and Serbia of 1900, and with the end of WW1, territories of the former Austro-Hungarian empire in the western Balkans were joined to Serbia and the State changed its name to the Kingdom of Serbs Croats & Slovenes. That country changed its name in 1929 to Yugoslavia. With the end of WW2, further territories along the Adriatic coast were ceded by Italy to Yugoslavia. Australia and Yugoslavia as successor states continued to respect the 1900 Treaty.

However in 1990 the Yugoslav Republic of Croatia adopted a new Constitution which had a clause 9 that states:

Državljanin Republike Hrvatske ne može biti prognan iz Republike Hrvatske niti mu se može oduzeti državljanstvo, a ne može biti ni izručen drugoj državi.

In translation it states:

No citizen of the Republic of Croatia shall be exiled from the Republic or be deprived of citizenship, and shall not be extradited to another state.

The Republic then violently and unilaterally seceded from Yugoslavia. It has amended its constitution in 2000 & 2001, but has not amended Clause 9.

This Constitutional clause is a repudiation of the principles of Reciprocity. The new Croatia cannot extradite its citizens to Australia. It cannot be said that Croatia was ever a successor State for the purposes of the 1900 Treaty or extradition purposes. The Croatian media speak of up to 5,000 of its citizens being potentially liable for extradition.

The Extradition (Croatia) Regulation 2004 is clearly based on an aberration of Public Policy as there is no Reciprocity. It can be seen as not in the Australian National Interest. Was the Minister even told of this in 2003/2004 when Regulations were being drafted?

This is why we are seeking your help to assist in the calling for the repeal of this Regulation by the Attorney General.

We await your early reply.

Yours sincerely,

S Milanovic                  

PRESIDENT  

04.06.2010