Dragan Vasiljkovic
Encyclopedia
Dragan Vasiljković nicknamed Captain Dragan (Serbian Cyrillic: Капетан Драган) was a founder and captain of the Serbian paramilitary
unit called the Knindže (Knin
ninjas, Red berets). Currently imprisoned in Australia, he is accused of war crimes by the Republic of Croatia, wanted by Interpol
. In March 2010, the High Court of Australia ordered him to prison in order to extradite him to Croatia to face prosecution for his alleged crimes. Dragan Vasiljković was arrested again in Australia on May 12, 2010 after being on the run for six weeks following a court ruling approving his extradition to Croatia for war crimes, among others for Knin camp
.
. His father Živorad died in a motorcycle accident while Dragan was still young. At the age of 3, he was briefly placed in foster home Dragutin Filipović Jusa because his mother
could not raise three children on her own.
In 1967 he went to Australia
with his mother and two siblings under the name Daniel Snedden. After he finished high school in Melbourne
he worked in a photo shop. He spent 4 years in the Australian Army
's reserve unit 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse
. After his military service, he served as a weapons instructor in Africa
and South America
. He was sailing around the world and stayed in Serbia in 1988 where he set up a boat and airplane charter business. He was convicted of criminal charges in relation to brothel ownership in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne
, Australia
during the 1980s. He also worked as a golf
instructor in Australia.
. In Belgrade, Captain Dragan met Sasa Medakovic, one of the leaders of the barricades in Krajina following the "Log Revolution
" in August. Medakovic was a friend of Knin
chief of police Milan Martic
(later convicted of war crimes at The Hague), and was an employee of Krajina state security. Captain Dragan visited Krajina in the autumn 1990. There, he met Milan Martic
and claimed that the defence of Krajina appeared "very disorganised". He thus decided to help organise the Krajina
defence. On his return to Belgrade, he attempted to gather support for his effort, and became a member of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement
. He then returned to the United States to complete his aviator training.
During the March 1991 Belgrade upheaval when the Serbian Renewal Movement's challenge to the government was met with tanks in the streets, Captain Dragan was compelled to return there. Again, Milovanov had him in contact with Serbian State Security personnel, among them Franko Simatović
. Simatović told him of his Krajina-related activities that if his bosses were to learn about it, he would probably be arrested and dismissed. On 4 April, Captain Dragan went to Krajina to work for Milan Martic. http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030219ED.htm
On 25 June 1991, Croatia proclaimed its independence; soon after, war broke out in Croatia. He served during the Croatian War of Independence
under the newly-created Republic of Serbian Krajina
as a volunteer; International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
prosecutors claim that this service took place under Serbian police auspices, and media even reported that he claimed this during his testimony at the Milosevic trial in 2003. Milosevic
asked him of this, and to this he replied "I was speaking exclusively of the Service of Krajina, the Police of Krajina or the Army of Krajina or the JNA until the Vance Plan".
Asked if "at any time was there a unit of the MUP (Ministry of the Internal Affairs) of Serbia?" in Krajina with him, he replied that Jovica Stanisic
once made an informal visit and Frenki Simatović came three or four times. He was asked if Stanisic and Simatovic ever gave him any orders. He replied that they did not and were in no position to, and did not know nor were they qualified to know.
He commanded special units known as Red Berets (not to be confused with the Special Operations Unit or JSO founded in Serbia in 1996) or Knindže after the Krajina's capital of Knin
and ninja
fighters. He trained units at Krajina's Golubić training camp for which he was allegedly paid by the State Security Service of Serbia
; he denied this at the Milosevic trial, despite his role as a prosecution witness. He added that the only time that the Serbian State Security paid him was for a 28-day stint in 1997 "to monitor exercises"; his fee was 2,200 dinars. http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030220IT.htm He was allied with Interior Minister Milan Martić
in his power struggle with President Milan Babić
, whom he described as "dishonest, a man who was not of his word." Martić, in contrast, he considered to be "a man of honour and a man of his word." In November 1991, Babić called Vojislav Šešelj to Knin to help him thwart what he believed to be a coup attempt being planned by Captain Dragan himself. According to Šešelj, "Captain Dragan interfered and started a rebellion among the army ranks", and organised a rally of military personnel. Šešelj toured the front lines and in the media explained to people that "those who want internal conflicts while an armed clash is still going on cannot be friends of the Serb people." The rally, Šešelj said, proved a failure and Babic remained in power.http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050824IT.htm Šešelj also testified at the Milosevic trial that Captain Dragan had a training camp in Golubic.http://google.com/search?q=cache:e6Xmql1QJQUJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/050831ED.htm+%2B%22Seselj%22%2B%22Captain+Dragan%22%2B%22cheater%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca Vasiljković ran for president of Serbia in 1992
, placing fourth with 1.86% of the vote.
During the war, he founded the Fond Kapetan Dragan aimed at helping victims of war.http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030220IT.htm Vasiljković became a type of folk hero to some over the course of the war. Nationalist Serbian singer Boro Drljača
released a song titled Kapetan Dragan in 1991.
, Vasiljković returned to Serbia where he lived for several years. Vasiljković was involved in the Serbian Renewal Movement
. He maintained his friendship with Franko Simatović, and in 2001 stated that he would defend him in court if necessary. Simatović was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) in 2003. Vasiljković reemerged in the spotlight after he testified against Slobodan Milošević in 2004 at the ICTY, and subsequently moved back to Perth, Western Australia
.
Vasiljković was arrested on the basis of a Croatian warrant on 19 January.
He is accused by the Republic of Croatia of being responsible for soldiers under his command allegedly torturing, beating and killing captured members of Croatian Army and Police
between June and July 1991 in a prison on the fortress in Knin, and also for making plans to attack and take over the Glina Police station
, a near city village
Jukince and the villages Gornji i Donji Viduševac in February 1993 at Benkovac
(in agreement with the commander of the tank unit JNA
). It is alleged during that attack, against the Geneva convention, civil buildings were damaged and ruined, Croatian citizens were forced to escape, their property requirements of as robbed and civilians (among them was a foreign journalist) were wounded and killed. Those accusations were made public after the newspaper The Australian
reported a story about him. Dragan subsequently sued The Australian for defamation. In July 2007, the Supreme Court held that 6 out of 10 imputations in that article were defamatory (The Australian - Majority rules Dragan defamed). However, in December 2009, a judge ruled that Captain Dragan "committed torture and rape" and that The Australian article from 2005 proved that Vasiljković participated and committed the allegations against him. Vasiljković rejects the claims, and will appeal the ruling.
The ICTY Hague Tribunal had named Vasiljković as a "participant in a joint criminal enterprise
" against Croats and other non-Serbs in the Martic decision, but did not request his arrest. He gave evidence against Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague without immunity. All of the others named are either already on trial at the Hague or at large. In 2005, ICTY spokesperson Florence Hartmann
announced that Vasiljković had been under investigation, but that it had stopped due to the mandate on the tribunal to finish its work.
Already in June 2006, the High Court dismissed an application seeking to declare the Extradition Act and Regulations with its "no evidence" model invalid. The High Court remitted the case to the Federal Court of Australia to determine whether or not he is protected by International Law. The Federal Court will also review the Local Court determination that he will receive a fair trial in Croatia. The case is next before Justice Cowdroy in November. Vasiljković has been in custody since January 2006.
On 12 April 2007, authorities in Sydney granted Croatia's extradition request, with Vasiljković being held pending appeal at Parklea Correctional Centre
in its maximum security section on protection. As an alleged war criminal, he is in a cell by himself, but has been given a guitar and is allowed to have a pen and paper. He wishes to enroll on the electoral roll as he is an Australian citizen but as yet he has been unable to do so. He is also prevented from speaking to members of the press. By April 2007, the Serbian community of Australia had spent over $500,000 on Vasiljković's defence.
On 3 February 2009 Vasiljković appeal against extradition to Croatia was rejected by the Federal Court of Australia
., Among those coming to the defence of Vasiljković was the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Australia and New Zealand
Irinej Dobrijević.
On 2 September Federal Court of Australia ruled that "there was a substantial or real chance of prejudice if he was extradited to Croatia, ordering release, pending appeal. He subsequently walked free from Parklea prison in Sydney's west on September 4, 2009.
The Australian government appealed the ruling, which was successfully overturned. Courts ruled that Vasiljković should be extradited to Croatia. However, the Australian Federal Police
subsequently lost track of him.
In March 2010 the High Court of Australia overturned the Federal Court decision allowing the Australian Federal Government to extradite Vasiljković to Croatia for war crimes. After the ruling ordering his extraction, Vasiljković was nowhere to be found.
at the Harwood slipyard on the Clarence River
on May 12, 2010, having evaded police for 43 days. Vasiljković had bought a yacht in which he had been living in and repairing with the intent to flee the country. Intelligence received by the Netherlands
police stated that Vasiljkovic sent his former lawyer Brad Slowgrove to the country to plead that his case be moved to the International Criminal Tribunal
. Slowgrove, had been disbarred from practicing law due to threatening NSW magistrate Allan Moore, who was hearing the Vasiljkovic extradition in 2006, with "severe personal consequences." Because of this, he was flagged once entering the Netherlands, and Dutch police were able to provide information to Australian police that Vasiljković was still hiding in Australia. Vasiljković's location was tracked after he made a call to Franko Simatović at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
On May 19, the Australian Court rejected Vasiljković's defense that Croatian courts would not give him a fair trial and that claims that Croatian courts had been more lenient towards Croats were "scanty" and "feeble". Australia's Federal Court upheld the ruling four months later, rejecting an appeal made by Vasiljković.
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
unit called the Knindže (Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
ninjas, Red berets). Currently imprisoned in Australia, he is accused of war crimes by the Republic of Croatia, wanted by Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
. In March 2010, the High Court of Australia ordered him to prison in order to extradite him to Croatia to face prosecution for his alleged crimes. Dragan Vasiljković was arrested again in Australia on May 12, 2010 after being on the run for six weeks following a court ruling approving his extradition to Croatia for war crimes, among others for Knin camp
Knin camp
Knin camp was a detention camp run by rebel Serbs in Knin, then still part of the puppet state of Republika Srpska Krajina, that held Croatian detainees, soldiers and civilians, from 1991 until 1992, during the Croatian War of Independence....
.
Early life
Dragan Vasiljković was born on 12 December 1954 in a Serbian Orthodox family in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. His father Živorad died in a motorcycle accident while Dragan was still young. At the age of 3, he was briefly placed in foster home Dragutin Filipović Jusa because his mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
could not raise three children on her own.
In 1967 he went to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with his mother and two siblings under the name Daniel Snedden. After he finished high school in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
he worked in a photo shop. He spent 4 years in the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
's reserve unit 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse
4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse
The 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse is a cavalry regiment of the Australian Army. The regiment in its current composition was formed in 1948 when the Citizens Military Force was re-raised after the completion of the demoblisation process following the end of the Second World War and it was...
. After his military service, he served as a weapons instructor in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. He was sailing around the world and stayed in Serbia in 1988 where he set up a boat and airplane charter business. He was convicted of criminal charges in relation to brothel ownership in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
during the 1980s. He also worked as a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
instructor in Australia.
Croatian War
He returned to Belgrade in May 1990, as Croatia held its first democratic parliamentary electionsCroatian parliamentary election, 1990
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 22 April 1990, with a second round of voting on 6 May. The first free elections since multi-party politics were introduced, they resulted in a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 55 of the 80 seats...
. In Belgrade, Captain Dragan met Sasa Medakovic, one of the leaders of the barricades in Krajina following the "Log Revolution
Log Revolution
The Log Revolution was an insurrection which started on August 17, 1990 in areas of the Republic of Croatia which were populated significantly by ethnic Serbs....
" in August. Medakovic was a friend of Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
chief of police Milan Martic
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
(later convicted of war crimes at The Hague), and was an employee of Krajina state security. Captain Dragan visited Krajina in the autumn 1990. There, he met Milan Martic
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
and claimed that the defence of Krajina appeared "very disorganised". He thus decided to help organise the Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
defence. On his return to Belgrade, he attempted to gather support for his effort, and became a member of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement
Serbian Renewal Movement
The Serbian Renewal Movement is a political party in Serbia.It was founded in 1990.In 1997 a dissident group abandoned the party and formed New Serbia....
. He then returned to the United States to complete his aviator training.
During the March 1991 Belgrade upheaval when the Serbian Renewal Movement's challenge to the government was met with tanks in the streets, Captain Dragan was compelled to return there. Again, Milovanov had him in contact with Serbian State Security personnel, among them Franko Simatović
Franko Simatovic
Franko "Frenki" Simatović was the head of the Serbian secret police of Slobodan Milošević, the Special Forces of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was the founder of the "Special Operations Unit"....
. Simatović told him of his Krajina-related activities that if his bosses were to learn about it, he would probably be arrested and dismissed. On 4 April, Captain Dragan went to Krajina to work for Milan Martic. http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030219ED.htm
On 25 June 1991, Croatia proclaimed its independence; soon after, war broke out in Croatia. He served during the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
under the newly-created Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
as a volunteer; International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
prosecutors claim that this service took place under Serbian police auspices, and media even reported that he claimed this during his testimony at the Milosevic trial in 2003. Milosevic
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
asked him of this, and to this he replied "I was speaking exclusively of the Service of Krajina, the Police of Krajina or the Army of Krajina or the JNA until the Vance Plan".
Asked if "at any time was there a unit of the MUP (Ministry of the Internal Affairs) of Serbia?" in Krajina with him, he replied that Jovica Stanisic
Jovica Stanišic
Jovica Stanišić is a former head of the State Security Service now BIA within the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. He is facing trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his role in the wars in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
once made an informal visit and Frenki Simatović came three or four times. He was asked if Stanisic and Simatovic ever gave him any orders. He replied that they did not and were in no position to, and did not know nor were they qualified to know.
He commanded special units known as Red Berets (not to be confused with the Special Operations Unit or JSO founded in Serbia in 1996) or Knindže after the Krajina's capital of Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
and ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
fighters. He trained units at Krajina's Golubić training camp for which he was allegedly paid by the State Security Service of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
; he denied this at the Milosevic trial, despite his role as a prosecution witness. He added that the only time that the Serbian State Security paid him was for a 28-day stint in 1997 "to monitor exercises"; his fee was 2,200 dinars. http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030220IT.htm He was allied with Interior Minister Milan Martić
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
in his power struggle with President Milan Babić
Milan Babic
Milan Babić was from 1991 to 1995 the first President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a Croatian region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia that wished to break away from Croatia.He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former...
, whom he described as "dishonest, a man who was not of his word." Martić, in contrast, he considered to be "a man of honour and a man of his word." In November 1991, Babić called Vojislav Šešelj to Knin to help him thwart what he believed to be a coup attempt being planned by Captain Dragan himself. According to Šešelj, "Captain Dragan interfered and started a rebellion among the army ranks", and organised a rally of military personnel. Šešelj toured the front lines and in the media explained to people that "those who want internal conflicts while an armed clash is still going on cannot be friends of the Serb people." The rally, Šešelj said, proved a failure and Babic remained in power.http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050824IT.htm Šešelj also testified at the Milosevic trial that Captain Dragan had a training camp in Golubic.http://google.com/search?q=cache:e6Xmql1QJQUJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/050831ED.htm+%2B%22Seselj%22%2B%22Captain+Dragan%22%2B%22cheater%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca Vasiljković ran for president of Serbia in 1992
Serbian presidential election, 1992
Presidential elections were held in the Republic of Serbia on December 20, 1992. The vote was held only two years after the previous election, as it was necessitated by the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,...
, placing fourth with 1.86% of the vote.
During the war, he founded the Fond Kapetan Dragan aimed at helping victims of war.http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030220IT.htm Vasiljković became a type of folk hero to some over the course of the war. Nationalist Serbian singer Boro Drljača
Boro Drljaca
Boro Drljača is a Serbian folk singer popular in the ex-Yugoslavia.-Biography:...
released a song titled Kapetan Dragan in 1991.
Life in Serbia
After the end of combat in Croatia and Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Vasiljković returned to Serbia where he lived for several years. Vasiljković was involved in the Serbian Renewal Movement
Serbian Renewal Movement
The Serbian Renewal Movement is a political party in Serbia.It was founded in 1990.In 1997 a dissident group abandoned the party and formed New Serbia....
. He maintained his friendship with Franko Simatović, and in 2001 stated that he would defend him in court if necessary. Simatović was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) in 2003. Vasiljković reemerged in the spotlight after he testified against Slobodan Milošević in 2004 at the ICTY, and subsequently moved back to Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
.
Allegation of war crimes
In September 2005 an article in The Australian newspaper accused Dragan Vasiljković of war crimes as a Serbian paramilitary commander between 1991 and 1994. Vasiljković made a short return to Serbia and held a press conference in Belgrade before returning to Australia. He then lodged a public defamation case against the publishing company Nationwide News for the article. In December 2009 the court ruled in favor of Nationwide News and ordered Vasiljković to pay them $1.2 million.Vasiljković was arrested on the basis of a Croatian warrant on 19 January.
He is accused by the Republic of Croatia of being responsible for soldiers under his command allegedly torturing, beating and killing captured members of Croatian Army and Police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
between June and July 1991 in a prison on the fortress in Knin, and also for making plans to attack and take over the Glina Police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
, a near city village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
Jukince and the villages Gornji i Donji Viduševac in February 1993 at Benkovac
Benkovac
Benkovac is a town and municipality in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia.- Geography :Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30 km from Zadar. The Zagreb-Split motorway and Zadar-Knin...
(in agreement with the commander of the tank unit JNA
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
). It is alleged during that attack, against the Geneva convention, civil buildings were damaged and ruined, Croatian citizens were forced to escape, their property requirements of as robbed and civilians (among them was a foreign journalist) were wounded and killed. Those accusations were made public after the newspaper The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
reported a story about him. Dragan subsequently sued The Australian for defamation. In July 2007, the Supreme Court held that 6 out of 10 imputations in that article were defamatory (The Australian - Majority rules Dragan defamed). However, in December 2009, a judge ruled that Captain Dragan "committed torture and rape" and that The Australian article from 2005 proved that Vasiljković participated and committed the allegations against him. Vasiljković rejects the claims, and will appeal the ruling.
The ICTY Hague Tribunal had named Vasiljković as a "participant in a joint criminal enterprise
Joint Criminal Enterprise
Joint criminal enterprise ' is a legal doctrine used by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to prosecute political and military leaders for mass war crimes, including genocide, committed during the Yugoslav wars 1991-1999....
" against Croats and other non-Serbs in the Martic decision, but did not request his arrest. He gave evidence against Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague without immunity. All of the others named are either already on trial at the Hague or at large. In 2005, ICTY spokesperson Florence Hartmann
Florence Hartmann
Florence Hartmann is a French journalist and author. During the 1990s she was a correspondent in the Balkans for the French newspaper Le Monde. In 1999 she published her first book, Milosevic, la diagonale du fou, reissued by Gallimard in 2002...
announced that Vasiljković had been under investigation, but that it had stopped due to the mandate on the tribunal to finish its work.
Trial
In December 2006, Vasiljković's bid to prevent his extradition hearing from going ahead failed in the Sydney Magistrates Court. His grounds of defense were that as a Serbian Captain, he believed that he would be facing a biased Croatian Court and that no evidence of the allegations are required under the Extradition Act 1988 (House of Commons Extradition Requirements - Section 10) for an Australian citizen to be extradited.Already in June 2006, the High Court dismissed an application seeking to declare the Extradition Act and Regulations with its "no evidence" model invalid. The High Court remitted the case to the Federal Court of Australia to determine whether or not he is protected by International Law. The Federal Court will also review the Local Court determination that he will receive a fair trial in Croatia. The case is next before Justice Cowdroy in November. Vasiljković has been in custody since January 2006.
On 12 April 2007, authorities in Sydney granted Croatia's extradition request, with Vasiljković being held pending appeal at Parklea Correctional Centre
Parklea Correctional Centre
Parklea Correctional Centre is a privately managed maximum security remand prison for male inmates with a current capacity for 823 inmates. The prison is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and is managed by the GEO group Australia. The centre incorporates a minimum security work release...
in its maximum security section on protection. As an alleged war criminal, he is in a cell by himself, but has been given a guitar and is allowed to have a pen and paper. He wishes to enroll on the electoral roll as he is an Australian citizen but as yet he has been unable to do so. He is also prevented from speaking to members of the press. By April 2007, the Serbian community of Australia had spent over $500,000 on Vasiljković's defence.
On 3 February 2009 Vasiljković appeal against extradition to Croatia was rejected by the Federal Court of Australia
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
., Among those coming to the defence of Vasiljković was the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Irinej Dobrijević.
On 2 September Federal Court of Australia ruled that "there was a substantial or real chance of prejudice if he was extradited to Croatia, ordering release, pending appeal. He subsequently walked free from Parklea prison in Sydney's west on September 4, 2009.
The Australian government appealed the ruling, which was successfully overturned. Courts ruled that Vasiljković should be extradited to Croatia. However, the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
subsequently lost track of him.
In March 2010 the High Court of Australia overturned the Federal Court decision allowing the Australian Federal Government to extradite Vasiljković to Croatia for war crimes. After the ruling ordering his extraction, Vasiljković was nowhere to be found.
Final arrest and appeals
Vasiljković was caught again by the Australian Federal PoliceAustralian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
at the Harwood slipyard on the Clarence River
Clarence River (New South Wales)
The Clarence River is situated in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The river originates on the watershed that marks the Queensland border. After flowing south and northeast for 394 km it then empties into the Pacific Ocean at Iluka/Yamba. On its journey it passes through the towns of...
on May 12, 2010, having evaded police for 43 days. Vasiljković had bought a yacht in which he had been living in and repairing with the intent to flee the country. Intelligence received by the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
police stated that Vasiljkovic sent his former lawyer Brad Slowgrove to the country to plead that his case be moved to the International Criminal Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
. Slowgrove, had been disbarred from practicing law due to threatening NSW magistrate Allan Moore, who was hearing the Vasiljkovic extradition in 2006, with "severe personal consequences." Because of this, he was flagged once entering the Netherlands, and Dutch police were able to provide information to Australian police that Vasiljković was still hiding in Australia. Vasiljković's location was tracked after he made a call to Franko Simatović at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
On May 19, the Australian Court rejected Vasiljković's defense that Croatian courts would not give him a fair trial and that claims that Croatian courts had been more lenient towards Croats were "scanty" and "feeble". Australia's Federal Court upheld the ruling four months later, rejecting an appeal made by Vasiljković.