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Dragan Vasiljković From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to: navigation, search A NOTORIOUS former Serb paramilitary leader accused of war crimes is behind bars in a maximum-security prison after federal police armed with an Interpol arrest warrant seized the golf instructor in a midnight raid at a Sydney apartment.

Four months after The Australian found Dragan Vasiljkovic living in Perth as Daniel Snedden, the first stage of extradition proceedings was launched yesterday against the soldier infamously known as Captain Dragan during the bloody Balkans conflict. As a commander in the Serbian paramilitary forces, Mr Vasiljkovic is alleged to have led a unit that end civilians and tortured prisoners of war in the Croatian towns of Glina and Knin in mid-1991 and Bruska, near Benkovac, in February 1993.

The Croatian Government wants Australia to send him to Croatia to face three war-crimes charges. The charges, according to papers lodged in Sydney's Central Local Court yesterday, included two war crimes against prisoners of war under article 122 of the Basic Criminal Code of Croatia and one war crime against civil population under Article 120 of the code. The offences carry a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail.

The Croatian investigation into Mr Vasiljkovic's wartime activities - conducted by county prosecutors in the central Dalmatian town of Sibenik - began after The Weekend Australian tracked Mr Vasiljkovic, 51, to a Perth Serbian community centre, where he was teaching golf.

The former commando had returned to Australia in December 2004, quietly resuming a life in Perth where his mother and brother live, after travelling between Belgrade, Africa and The Hague in the years following the 1991-95 Balkans war.

Australian Federal Police agents swooped on Mr Vasiljkovic's rented unit in the southwest Sydney suburb of Liverpool at 11.55pm on Thursday. He was listed as an international fugitive by Interpol earlier this month.

Mr Vasiljkovic, who insisted last week he would only return to Croatia "as commander of a tank unit" and evidence against him "won't stand even in the pubs", sat impbuttively in the dock wearing a dark suit jacket and red shirt.

Magistrate Allan Moore adjourned the matter to January 27, when Mr Vasiljkovic, who was refused bail, will appear by video link from prison.

edit 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. ãThe 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,ä Mr Ruddock said ãAustralia 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,ä Mr Ruddock said. ãAs this is an on-going law enforcement matter it is not appropriate for me to comment furtherä.

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