Croatia to appeal release of Vasiljkovic

3 Sep 2009, 11:52 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Croatian authorities are to appeal the Federal Court of Australia's decision to free a suspected Serbian war criminal.

Croatian authorities are to appeal the Federal Court of Australia's decision to free a suspected Serbian war criminal.

The court ruled on Wednesday that Daniel Snedden, 54, also known as Dragan Vasiljkovic, would not be extradited to Croatia and ordered his release from prison.

But Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic says he believes Australia will change its decision not to extradite Snedden and has stated his confidence that the Serb will either be extradited to Croatia or jailed in Australia.

Croatia is seeking the extradition of Snedden, nicknamed Captain Dragan, to stand trial for having committed war crimes during the Balkans war in the 1990s.

The Federal Court ruled that as a former Serb army captain, Snedden would face a biased Croatian court.

Simonovic said it was possible that Snedden would go underground if he was released from prison and so Croatia would appeal the Federal Court's ruling to the High Court.

Simonovic said: "We expect its decision will be positive. But, if not, it will not mean freedom for Vasiljkovic because there is no statute of limitations on war crimes."

The Federal Court judges ordered that Snedden, who has been in jail since his arrest in January 2006, be released.

But they stayed their order until 3pm (AEST) on Friday, to enable Croatia to decide whether it will go to the High Court and apply for special leave to appeal.

Snedden was born in Belgrade and moved to Australia with his parents as a child but returned to Serbia in 1991 as a paramilitary commandeer.

The accusations against him include killing Croatian civilians and instructing others to commit murder during his time in Srpska Krajina, a Serbian-dominated part of Croatia, until 1995 - crimes he has denied.

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