Serbs fund Dragan court fight

Serbs fund Dragan court fight
The Australian - April 16, 2007 Monday

By David King, Peter Kogoy

AUSTRALIA'S Serbian community has spent more than $500,000 fighting the extradition to Croatia of accused Balkan war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic, with costs likely to rise as the case returns to the High Court.

A group calling themselves Serbs for Justice and Democracy -- who have labelled the case against Captain Dragan a ''witch hunt'' -- said legal fees for the extradition case had passed $500,000 with bills still rolling in.

Committee president George Bubalo told The Australian yesterday that 42 Serbian community groups from around the country had made financial contributions to the fighting fund.

''The case to stop Captain Dragan from being returned to Croatia is far from exhausted,'' Mr Bubalo said.

''We will take the case all the way to the High Court of Australia, as Dragan is an Australian citizen, if need be.''

The High Court bid comes after NSW Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran last week granted the Republic of Croatia the right to have Mr Vasiljkovic extradited on charges of war crimes during the Serb-Croat civil war more than 15 years ago.

Mr Vasiljkovic, 52, who migrated to Australia with his mother when he was 12, returned to Serbia in 1991 and took command of a paramilitary unit in the self-proclaimed republic of Srpska Krajina.

Mr Vasiljkovic states in court documents that he was military commander in the Krajina and ''played a key role in keeping the region from from HDZ (Croatian) military domination from June 1991 to 1995''.

Croatia alleges that in the Krajina in the early 1990s he brutalised a captive soldier, gave orders for a murder and ordered troops to fire on civilian portions of the town of Glina.

Mr Vasiljkovic denies the allegations.

In a statement written in December last year in Sydney's Parklea jail, Mr Vasiljkovic said he could never receive a fair trial in Croatia.

''I believe I cannot be acquitted no matter what the evidence is in a Croatian court, because of the political effect on the career of any judge who finds me innocent,'' he said in a portion of his statement ruled inadmissible by the local court.

''I believe any judge who found me innocent could no longer live safely in Croatia.''

Mr Vasiljkovic said his role in the war had been subject to ''myth and rumour''.

''For instance, there were only 20 men to who I gave red berets after the events at Glina but many Serbian paramilitaries began wearing red berets after news of our victory spread. I was identified with their activities although they were never under my command,'' he said.

Mr Vasiljkovic writes that his prosecution is in retaliation for the prosecution of Croatian military Commander Ante Gotovina by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

''I believe that the purpose of my surrender is to persecute me politically and use as a propaganda trophy against the Serbian people and as political revenge for Gotovina,'' he wrote.

He says he is writing a book from prison to ''clarify my role in the war''.

The Serbs for Justice committee is made up of a coalition of 25 Serbian-Australians, including a Serbian Orthodox priest, Father Rade Radan.

''The committee will meet in Sydney possibly as early as today to plan its next legal move,'' Mr Bubalo said.

''Show me the evidence Dragan did something wrong. There isn't any. Dragan has been sitting in a Sydney jail (Parklea) for the past 15 months with a charge brought against him.''

Serbs for Justice and Democracy committee member Ilija Glisic questioned why theICTY had not pursued Mr Vasiljkovic.

''In my book, Dragan is guilty of nothing at this stage.

''If he was, then why hasn't the International Criminal Court in The Hague taken an interest in this case?''