Australia set to extradite Serb

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A Serbian Australian accused of having committed war crimes in the Balkans in 1991 is to be extradited to Croatia.

Officials there have accused Dragan Vasiljkovic of personally ordering the torture of Croatian civilians and soldiers during the Balkans conflict.

Mr Vasiljkovic, who was also known as Captain Dragan, has 15 days to appeal against the extradition.

He has denied war crimes, but admits training Serbian recruits, killing in combat and interrogating enemy troops.

Serious accusations

The Croatian authorities believe Dragan Vasiljkovic was a Serb paramilitary leader, personally responsible for a heinous catalogue of war crimes in the early 1990s.

He is accused of commanding a unit of the Serbian Red Beret paramilitaries, which not only shot Croatian soldiers in combat but burnt villages, slaughtered civilians, raped women and killed hospital patients.

It is alleged that Mr Vasiljkovic personally ordered the atrocities.

According to court documents, he had lived in Australia since 1969 but left the country in the early 1990s to fight in the Balkans.

Afterwards he returned to live in Perth in Western Australia, where he worked as a golf instructor until his arrest in January last year.

The 51-year-old has long argued that he was detained illegally because Australia has no extradition treaty with Croatia.

But a court in Sydney ruled that he was eligible for surrender to Croatia.

If Mr Vasiljkovic fails to win an appeal against the ruling, he will become the first person to be extradited from Australia to face war crimes charges.