Captain Dragan seeks UN pre-trial release in Croatia

Australian alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic has applied to the UN to be released days before his Croatia trial.

Australian alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic.

Australian alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic has applied to the UN Human Rights Council to be released from custody days before a long-awaited trial begins in Croatia.

Dual national Mr Vasiljkovic — known as Captain Dragan in Serbia where he led a paramilitary unit during the Balkans War and as Daniel Snedden in Australia where he was a golf ­instructor — has pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges. His trial in the Croatian seaside town of Split is to start on Tuesday.

Mr Vasiljkovic’s lawyer, Slad­jana Cankovic, told the Croatian news agency Hina she expected him to be released during the trial because of the long time he had been in detention already. He spent nine years in Sydney’s Silverwater detention centre fighting extradition to Croatia, claiming he would not receive a fair trial. He was extradited to Croatia in July 2015 after ­exhausting all rights of appeal.

“We believe this motion will be successful, because in the UN’s practice it’s never been ­recorded someone has spent 10 years in extradition prison,” Ms Cankovic said.

She said Mr Vasiljkovic would continue to fight the war crimes charges and would seek reparation because his human rights had been violated.

Mr Vasiljkovic came to Australia aged 14 and settled in Melbourne before returning to Yugoslavia in 1990 and establishing a flying school.

The extradition process began after The Australian discovered Mr Vasiljkovic was back and living in Perth in 2005.

It is alleged that after Croatia declared independence, Mr Vasiljkovic, now 62, used skills learned in the Australian military to command a section of the Serbian paramilitary forces comprised of Serbian rebels from the Croatian area of Knin.

He is also accused of training special units that were involved in the mass torture and murder of Croats. Specifically he is ­accused of torturing and abusing Croatian army personnel and police at the Knin fort in 1991 and ordering the execution of two prisoners in Bruska, near Benkovac, in February 1993.