The Serbian government has reportedly written to the Australian government for a third time asking it not to proceed with the extradition of Daniel Snedden to Croatia.
Mr Snedden is a dual Australian-Serbian citizen who travelled to Croatia during the 1990s conflict there.
In December, the full Federal Court rejected Daniel Snedden's latest court appeal against extradition spanning the last eight years.
It ruled that Mr Snedden had been accorded appropriate procedural fairness in the making of the former Justice Minister Jason Clare's decision to surrender him to Croatia. The court is also allowing Mr Snedden to seek leave to appeal the decision in the High Court.
The now 60-year-old has spent the greater part of the last decade in extradition custody, in a stark contrast to the 1990s when he was a well-known and influential paramilitary leader of ethnic Serbs in Croatia.
But media reports out of Serbia suggest Mr Snedden, who in the 1990s went by his birth name of Dragan Vasiljkovic or Captain Dragan, is despairing at the ruling, and as a last resort is once again turning to Serbia for help.
Snedden 'mentally confused'
Vasiljkovic's friend Vojislav Ilic, who visits him in prison, says that Captain Dragan is completely despondent, is physically well, but that "he is mentally confused, and that his hopes are now facing Serbia and waiting news from Belgrade".
According to Mr Ilic, representatives of Serbian community have stopped visiting Vasiljkovic because Australian media report that his case has been completed and that he will soon fly to Zagreb.
According to him, Captain Dragan does not have the money to pay lawyers who now "began trading with him" and are now avoiding him.
Croatia wants to try Daniel Snedden on three counts of alleged involvement in war crimes, which include the torture and killing of non-Serb prisoners and civilians.
He denies the allegations against him, arguing that he won't receive a fair trial in Croatia, and reportedly more recently - that if sent to Croatia, he will be killed.
Letter of appeal
Faced with possibility of imminent extradition in the wake of the Federal Court's decision, the Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic has written to his Australian counterpart Michael Keenan.
The letter, formally handed over by the Serbian ambassador in Canberra, reportedly expresses concerns about the quality of evidence being used against Mr Snedden, and alleged discrimination against Serbs within Croatia's justice system.
It apparently offers to conduct criminal proceedings against Mr Snedden in Serbia, and warns that his extradition would cause "reactions" from the Serb community in Australia, and upset the public in Serbia.
Croatia's Assistant Minister at the Ministry for Justice, Ivan Crncec, says Serbia's action has come as a surprise. He's told Croatia's national broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision, that Serbia has no right make such remarks.
"Serbia, in my view, is in no position to assess and evaluate Croatia's justice system, what evidently appears to be the case with this move by the Serbian justice minister. The situation is, in fact, quite the opposite," Crncec said.
"They take upon themselves the right to put on trial and foreign nationals for war crimes"
Although long on a path of post-war reconciliation, Croatia has threatened to block Serbia's path to European Union membership if certain war-time issues remain unresolved.
Croatia is the newest 28th member of the European Union, and as has been its experience in the past, will now have the opportunity to participate in pre-accession reform processes for any other former Yugoslav states seeking to follow in its path.
In addition, the two neighbours have submitted mutual claims to the International Court of Justice in The Netherlands alleging acts of genocide dating back to the Croatian war.
Assistant Minister Crncec says Croatia will have an active role in Serbia's path to EU membership, suggesting a particular focus on chapter 23 of the bloc's rules and regulations, which concerns the judiciary and fundamental rights.
"There are certain problems that we, and other member states, will point to. On the one hand, [Serbia] has this odd law that positions them as a mini Hague Tribunal. They take upon themselves the right to put on trial and foreign nationals for war crimes committed on the territory of other states - former Yugoslav states - which to us is not acceptable," he said.
"On the one hand such a law exists. They're expressing a wish to try Captain Dragan even though we don't have information that any [criminal] proceedings have begun against Captain Dragan. While in other cases they refuse to conduct trials."
SBS is seeking further comment from Daniel Snedden's lawyer Dan Mori and federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan.
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