Australian war criminal Dragan ‘Rambo’ Vasiljkovic allowed to walk free from jail
Convicted murderer Dragan Vasiljkovic has been freed from jail without serving his full sentence. And the Australian war criminal had one strange request after his release.
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An Australian war criminal released from jail has boasted of feasting on an ice-cream as he tasted freedom without serving his full sentence.
Dragan Vasiljkovic was convicted of torture and murder during the Croatian war of indepedendence, was released with 18 months to go on his jail term.
He gave an interview to a Serbian newspaper saying that his first meal was an ice-cream.
“I simply wished it after years behind the bars. The ice cream was of strawberries and chocolate”, he told a Serbian newspaper, according to a translation.
But the war criminal complained of his treatment upon his release, saying that he was cold when travelling on a truck to the Croatian and Serbian border.
Vasiljkovic “kneeled and kissed the Serbian land” when he was released.
A planned party by his supporters in Serbia, where it was likely he would pursue a political career, was cancelled because of the coronavirus.
His friend Savo Strbac told Serbian media: “Fate has played with it that after being imprisoned in Australia and Croatia, it must once again be in a kind of isolation, without freedom of movement.
“I do not know anyone in Croatia, neither Serbs nor Croats, who have served their entire sentence. He endured the whole 13.5 years he was sentenced … and now he goes into isolation again. We do not know where or how many days it will be. Probably up to 28 days.”
Vasiljkovic was found to have tortured and beaten Croatian prisoners in a jail in Knin, three hours south of the capital Zagreb, in 1991.
He was also held responsible for the deaths of two civilians during the Croatian war of independence.
The convicted criminal had moved to Australia as a teenager but returned when the war broke out in 1991 to fight for Serbia, where he trained special forces units.
He returned after the conflict and was teaching golf in Perth before The Australian exposed him in 2005.
The seriousness of his convictions make it highly unlikely he will ever be allowed back into Australia.
The so-called “Dragan Rambo”, who even made up a comic strip about himself, spent nine years fighting extradition to Croatia.
He was finally sent there in 2015 and convicted in 2017 for 15 years, but his time served in detention while awaiting extradition counted towards his sentence.
However, he was still 18 months short of his full sentence.
Vasiljkovic, who is in his 60s, called himself Daniel Snedden in Australia, picking the surname after former Prime Minister Billy Snedden.
Croatian authorities released him from Lepoglava prison in the north of the country late on Saturday Australian time.
He was ordered to leave the country immediately and he was taken to the Serbian border near Bajakovo.
But has been forced into isolation there for 14 days because of the coronavirus.
Vasiljkovic also got banned from entering the EU for 20 years, the Croatian Justice Ministry has confirmed.
Captain Dragan was due to be welcomed by his Serbian supporters on his release from prison but the coronavirus has derailed their plans.
They had a party organised but there are restrictions of movement in Serbia because of the virus.
It was expected that he would stay in Serbia in the short term because he has a network there.
He would face a battle in returning to Australia because of his convictions and the current travel bans make any bid to return to Australia impossible.
Originally published as Australian war criminal Dragan ‘Rambo’ Vasiljkovic allowed to walk free from jail
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