The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Captain Dragan Extradition Possible
| 01 February 2010 |
The Australian reports today that Australia’s ability to pursue people who are suspected of committing war crimes could be compromised with this case.
The Australian government's argument is that if the Federal Court judgment that allowed Dragan Vasiljkovic to scuttle Croatia's bid to extradite him is allowed to stand, Australia's international crime co-operation efforts could be hampered.
According to The Australian, the government will also argue that the Federal Court was wrong to conclude that Mr Vasiljkovic, a Serbian-born Australian citizen, could not receive a fair trial in Croatia because of his political beliefs.
Vasiljkovic was the commander of a Serbian paramilitary unit known as the Red Berets during the war in Croatia, from 1991-1993.
In Croatia he is accused of crimes committed in the area of Knin and Benkovac.
Vasiljkovic was arrested in early 2006 in Sydney by Australian Federal Police acting on an Interpol international arrest warrant. He walked free from Sydney's Parklea prison after the Federal Court decided last September not to extradite him on the basis that he may not receive a fair trial in Croatia.
The Federal Court concluded that, if convicted, Vasiljkovic might be inprisoned for a longer period than a Croatian counterpart, „largely as a consequence of his political beliefs“.
The Australian government will argue that the Federal Court wrongly concluded that Vasiljkovic might receive a longer sentence, and that the case has broader implications for Australia's ability to fulfil its obligations under the Geneva conventions, and "has implications for the administration of justice from an international, as well as a domestic, perspective," reports The Australian.
The government hopes that Vasiljevic will eventually be extradited to Croatia.
Vasiljkovic immigrated to Australia as a 14-year-old and served in the Australian army reserves. After his military service, he served as a weapons instructor in Africa and South America. He returned to Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and formed a Serbian paramilitary unit known as Knindze, or Red Berets, during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
Australia does not have law under which war crimes can be prosecuted. Last December an initiative was raised for changes to be made to the law in order to enable courts to try Australian residents who committed crimes elsewhere in the world.
Some countries have already adopted similar measures, like the UK and Norway, where trials are ongoing.
