Melbourne soccer dad Predrag Japranin pursued by Croatia as a ‘war criminal’

A MAN wanted by Croatian authorities for prosecution over an alleged war crime is a long-time Melburnian.

Predrag Japranin, wanted by Croatian authorities for alleged war crimes, posted this photo on Facebook in 2009.

A MAN wanted by Croatian authorities for prosecution over an alleged war crim e is a long-time Melburnian who coached his daughter’s soccer team to third place last year and narrowly escaped the deadly Victorian bushfires that hit Kinglake in 2009.

Predrag Japranin, a 41-year-old who is now an Australian citizen, has built a life in Melbourne, working as a tradie and taking his children on camping trips around Victoria.

According to the indictment that Croatian prosecutors have ­issued against him, he is accused of being a member of the armed forces of a self-proclaimed Serbian state, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, who killed civilians during the Croatian war in 1991.

Mr Japranin has denied committing any crimes and told the ABC’s 7.30 program yesterday that he has never been a member of a militia.

Croatian authorities told The Australian the main allegation against Mr Japranin was “using the circumstances of armed ­rebellion, he was killing civilians”.

“Croatia was informed by (the bureau of) Interpol Canberra that Predrag Japranin is located in the territory of Australia and that he became an Australian citizen and has an Australian passport,” a spokeswoman for the Croatian justice ministry told The ­Australian.

“Interpol Zagreb issued the international search request for Predrag Japranin for the purpose of his arrest and transfer to the Croatian judiciary in order to be prosecuted.

“Croatia has not submitted a request for extradition.”

The Australian Federal Police has declined to comment.

According to 7.30, court documents from Croatia allege that in November 1991, Mr Japranin was involved in dragging two ­Croatian men from their homes in the town of Petrinja and killing them.

It is reportedly further alleged that he was involved in killing a third man.

The bodies of the alleged victims of the Serbian militia were uncovered in a mass grave in 1996.

The Interpol Red Notice was issued last year to alert police ­forces around the world that Mr Japranin was wanted in Croatia.

Mr Japranin had moved to Australia in 2000. His daughter played in a Serb-oriented soccer team, and his coaching abilities have been praised in Serbian media reports after the side was undefeated until the final matches of last year’s season.

In 2009, he and his wife were lucky to escape with their lives after the Victorian bushfires hit the town of Kinglake — where they were receiving massages at the time.

They had been regular clients of the Kinglake masseuse.

“We could see the flames on top of the trees,” Mr Japranin told a massage journal that published a story about the disaster.

“Then we couldn’t see anything except smoke.”

The mother of one of the ­alleged victims, Kristina Siftar, told 7.30 she allegedly watched Mr Japranin drag her son and another man out of her house.

“After they took him away, I did not know anything about him for four years,” she said. “You can only know how I was feeling.

“I was left without my child, I did not know where he was.

“As far as I know, he was liquidated immediately.”

Ms Siftar said she did not see the killing and did not accuse Mr Japranin of murder, but added she wanted answers about what happened that day.

“My child was 39 years of age, of course I miss him.”