Serbian Paramilitary Captain Dragan Jailed for War Crimes

Dragan Vasiljkovic, alias Captain Dragan, in court in Split. Photo: BETAPHOTO/AP.

The county court in the Croatian city of Split on Tuesday convicted Dragan Vasiljkovic of war crimes against imprisoned Croatian soldiers, policemen and civilians while he was the leader of rebel Serb fighters.

Vasiljkovic, 62, who has Australian and Serbian citizenship, was found guilty of committing the crimes at the fortress in Knin in June and July 1991, where imprisoned Croatian policemen and soldiers were abused, as well as during an attack on a police station in the town of Glina and surrounding villages in July 1991, which result in the killing of one civilian and a journalist.

Judge Damir Romac explained that the court established that the guards at the Knin fortress “were Vasiljkovic’s subordinates” and therefore he could have prevented them from beating and mentally abusing the imprisoned Croatian policemen and soldiers.

“Although he saw that his subordinates were acting against the law, beating and kicking the prisoners and hitting them with rifles… he failed to prevent or further react to the issues,” Romac said.

The judge also noted how in one incident, Vasiljkovic even kicked a prisoner, saying “let me show you how it’s done”.

Romac also said that the court established that Vasiljkovic “personally gave out orders” to attack the police station in Glina and its surrounding villages while some Croatian civilians were still hiding in their houses.

“He ordered that fire was opened from all available guns… ordering an attack on buildings of cultural importance and civilian targets, which ended in a war crime against civilians in which two of them were killed,” Romac added.

However Vasiljkovic was acquitted of committing crimes in the village of Bruska, near the town of Benkovac, in February 1993, when two Croatian soldiers were killed.

His lawyer Tomislav Filakovic said that they will appeal against the verdict, adding that Vasiljkovic was “surprised with the outcome of the trial”.

Vasiljkovic was extradited to Croatia in 2015 from Australia, where he had been working as a golf instructor under the name Daniel Snedden.

He had moved to Australia at the age of 14 but returned to Yugoslavia before the start of the 1990s conflicts and was then sent by the authorities in Belgrade to be the commander of a training centre for a Serb special paramilitary unit in Croatia in 1991.

He denied committing war crimes and pleaded not guilty at the trial.

During his closing statement in court, condemned the trial as politically motivated and “an oppressive fascist process”.

Vasiljkovic was jailed for 15 years but the court will take into account the time he spent in an Australian extradition prison and a Croatian investigative prison – a total of almost 11 years.

According to Croatian law, all convicts can ask for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence, which means he could be freed soon.

War veteran Ivan Turudic from the Croatian Association of Inmates of Serbian Concentration Camps condemned the verdict as too lenient.

“It’s disappointing to hear that Captain Dragan, Vasiljkovic, didn’t receive more years than the number of friends I buried, whose destinies he decided upon,” Turudic said.

He said he hoped that the Supreme Court would ultimately impose the maximum penalty on Vasiljkovic – which in Croatia is 20 years for war crimes – because he had “seen the amount of evidence against him” while following the case at the Split court.