Operation Stinger

SPLIT - Dragan Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan, on Tuesday pleaded "absolutely not guilty" to charges of war crimes committed against Croatian soldiers and civilians during the war of the 1990s.

The much-publicised, high-security trial before the county court in Split, Croatia, will resume on October 18 with witness testimonies.

Wartime Serb paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic, known as ‘Captain Dragan’, sent a complaint to the UN claiming he was illegally detained in Australia for years and unlawfully extradited to Croatia.

Tomislav Duic, who was convicted of war crimes against Serb civilian prisoners in the Croatian military prison camp Lora in Split, was captured after 11 years on the run.

Split County Court on Wednesday denied a request to release the former Serb paramilitary commander, Dragan Vasiljkovic, known as ‘Captain Dragan’, from custody.

BELGRADE - Miodrag Linta, president of the Coalition of Refugee Associations, urged Croatia to create the political and professional conditions for punishing numerous crimes against Serbs during the war in the nineties claiming that it is a cynical decision to raise indictments against Serbian citizens from Glina for the murder of Croatian civilians in 1991.

Former Serb paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic’s court plea to stop his extradition from Australia to Croatia, where he is wanted for alleged war crimes, was turned down.