http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=61819
Monday Apr 16 2007

Australia’s Serbian community fears accused Balkan war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic will be killed as soon as he lands in Croatia if the Australian government allows his extradition.

Mr Vasiljkovic, 52, has been in Parklea jail in Sydney for the past 15 months and is wanted by Croatia for war crimes, including murder and torture, against the Croatian people between 1991 and 1993.

The Australian citizen is accused of killing civilians and instructing others to commit murder while a commander of Serbian paramilitary forces in Srpska Krajina from 1991 to 1995.

The group Serbs for Justice and Democracy said it plans to take its fight against Mr Vasiljkovic’s extradition to the Federal Court.

NSW Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran last week granted the Republic of Croatia the right to have Mr Vasiljkovic extradited.

Serbs for Justice and Democracy president George Bubalo said the man known as Captain Dragan is innocent and noted the International Criminal Court in The Hague had not pursued him.

“There’s no evidence he has done anything wrong,” Mr Bubalo said.

“The Croatians say they want to question him. The problem is when he arrives in Zagreb, they would kill him.

“Any person in jail would kill him and be a hero.

“We believe there are no fair trials in Croatia for Serbs.

“If there is something to prove he did something wrong, take him to The Hague, let him face the music.

“It’s interesting The Hague doesn’t want him, or the organisation set up to look at war crimes in Croatia (the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.)”

Serbs for Justice and Democracy have already spent more than $500,000 in legal fees fighting Mr Vasiljkovic’s extradition.

Mr Bubalo said it was not hard to raise funds from Australia’s 150,000 Serbs and other supporters who believe in Captain Dragan’s innocence.

Mr Vasiljkovic migrated to Australia with his mother when he was 12, returning to Serbia in 1991 to take command of a paramilitary unit.

Mr Bubalo said his committee would meet in Sydney on Wednesday night to discuss the possible Federal Court appeal.