Post by tyson on Apr 8, 2010 5:19:32 GMT -5
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/interpol-dragnet-to-pursue-captain-dragan/story-e6frg6nf-1225851117636
Interpol dragnet to pursue Captain Dragan
Natasha Robinson
From: The Australian April 08, 2010 12:00AM
THE international policing agency Interpol has issued a fresh alert for the arrest of alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic as the Australian Federal Police continues to hunt for him.
Amid fears the former paramilitary commander -- widely known as Captain Dragan -- may slip the police net, the Serbian government has confirmed it will prosecute him if he turns up in his former homeland.
The former commander of the irregular troop unit the Kninjas, who returned to his homeland to fight in the Balkans war during the early 1990s, has not been seen since Monday of last week. Australia has been co-operating with a Croatian request for the extradition of Mr Vasiljkovic since early 2006.
Despite the fact that the former paramilitary commander is an Australian citizen, the AFP has undertaken no war crimes investigations of its own into Mr Vasiljkovic, who also goes by the name Daniel Snedden.
The AFP was caught flat-footed when the High Court reinstated a magistrates court warrant for Mr Vasiljkovic's arrest last week.
Mr Vasiljkovic was last seen at a High Court hearing on March 29 but when the court's judgment clearing the way for his extradition to Croatia was handed down the following day, he had vanished. An Interpol Red Notice has since been issued.
A spokesman for the AFP said yesterday it was the responsibility of Croatian authorities -- not Australian police -- to request Mr Vasiljkovic's arrest based on a 2006 warrant issued by a county court in Sibenik on Croatia's Adriatic coast.
The Croatian arrest warrant was issued after The Australian reported Mr Vasiljkovic, who was born in Belgrade but emigrated to Australia at 14, had returned to Perth and was working as a golf instructor.
The Croatian government has confirmed that if Mr Vasiljkovic absconds from Australia, he may end up out of the reach of its criminal justice system.
But Serbian deputy prosecutor for war crimes Bruno Vekari told the Serbian language newspaper Vesti that if Mr Vasiljkovic turned up in Serbia, he would be immediately delivered to prosecutors in that country.
Mr Vekari said a war crimes prosecution against Mr Vasiljkovic could be launched in Belgrade if Croatia handed over its evidence on Captain Dragan under a bilateral agreement between the two countries.
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other articles:
news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/interpol-searches-for-war-suspect-20100408-ruvk.html
au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/7035807/interpol-alert-for-capt-dragan/
Interpol dragnet to pursue Captain Dragan
Natasha Robinson
From: The Australian April 08, 2010 12:00AM
THE international policing agency Interpol has issued a fresh alert for the arrest of alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic as the Australian Federal Police continues to hunt for him.
Amid fears the former paramilitary commander -- widely known as Captain Dragan -- may slip the police net, the Serbian government has confirmed it will prosecute him if he turns up in his former homeland.
The former commander of the irregular troop unit the Kninjas, who returned to his homeland to fight in the Balkans war during the early 1990s, has not been seen since Monday of last week. Australia has been co-operating with a Croatian request for the extradition of Mr Vasiljkovic since early 2006.
Despite the fact that the former paramilitary commander is an Australian citizen, the AFP has undertaken no war crimes investigations of its own into Mr Vasiljkovic, who also goes by the name Daniel Snedden.
The AFP was caught flat-footed when the High Court reinstated a magistrates court warrant for Mr Vasiljkovic's arrest last week.
Mr Vasiljkovic was last seen at a High Court hearing on March 29 but when the court's judgment clearing the way for his extradition to Croatia was handed down the following day, he had vanished. An Interpol Red Notice has since been issued.
A spokesman for the AFP said yesterday it was the responsibility of Croatian authorities -- not Australian police -- to request Mr Vasiljkovic's arrest based on a 2006 warrant issued by a county court in Sibenik on Croatia's Adriatic coast.
The Croatian arrest warrant was issued after The Australian reported Mr Vasiljkovic, who was born in Belgrade but emigrated to Australia at 14, had returned to Perth and was working as a golf instructor.
The Croatian government has confirmed that if Mr Vasiljkovic absconds from Australia, he may end up out of the reach of its criminal justice system.
But Serbian deputy prosecutor for war crimes Bruno Vekari told the Serbian language newspaper Vesti that if Mr Vasiljkovic turned up in Serbia, he would be immediately delivered to prosecutors in that country.
Mr Vekari said a war crimes prosecution against Mr Vasiljkovic could be launched in Belgrade if Croatia handed over its evidence on Captain Dragan under a bilateral agreement between the two countries.
--------------------------------
other articles:
news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/interpol-searches-for-war-suspect-20100408-ruvk.html
au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/7035807/interpol-alert-for-capt-dragan/