Accused War Criminal Arrested In Australia

Dragan Vasiljkovic Arrested In Extradition Case

The Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, today announced Dragan Vasiljkovic has been arrested in Sydney by the Australian Federal Police following the issuing of a warrant for his arrest under the Australian Extradition Act 1988.

The AFP actioned this warrant following a provisional arrest request being made by the Croatian Government. Croatian authorities have been notified of these developments.

Mr Vasiljkovic has been accused of committing war crimes in the conflict which followed the collapse of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The Croatian Government now has sixty days to make a formal extradition request to Australia

The matter would then go before a magistrate who would determine if Mr Vasiljkovic is eligible for extradition.

If the magistrate determines that Mr Vasiljkovic is eligible for extradition, and all avenues of appeal are exhausted, the matter would return to the Minister for Justice and Customs to make a determination whether Mr Vasiljkovic should be extradited to Croatia.

“The Australian Government will work closely with the Croatian Government to ensure that any extradition request satisfies the requirements of the Australian Extradition Act so that proceedings can be commenced,” Mr Ruddock said

“Australia is committed to international legal cooperation. However, we also have to ensure that persons subject to extradition requests are accorded due process under the Extradition Act,” Mr Ruddock said.

“As this is an on-going law enforcement matter it is not appropriate for me to comment further”.

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