Australia Extradites War Crime Accused After Nine Years Of Legal Challenges
Monday 13 July 2015 @ 10.51 a.m. | Legal Research
After almost a decade of appeals, Australia has extradited Mr Dragan Vasiljkovic to Croatia pursuant to their 2006 request. Mr Vasiljkovic, also known as Daniel Snedden, will face prosecution for three war crimes offences that he allegedly committed in the 1990s, during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. According to The Australian, Mr Vasiljkovic will face questioning over allegations that:
“in 1991 he commanded troops from the so-called Red Beret brigade, the Kninjas, who tortured and killed prisoners of war; that he commanded a deadly assault on the town of Glina in which civilians were killed; and that in 1993 he committed breaches of the Geneva Conventions during an assault by his troops at the town of Bruska near Benkovac.”
Mr Vasiljkovic, who was born in Serbia, has always denied the charges against him, and has been arguing through the legal system that he will not face a fair trial in Croatia. According to a statement on the Attorney-General’s website:
“Mr Vasiljkovic was provisionally arrested in Australia in January 2006. Since that time, Mr Vasiljkovic has exercised his right to challenge the extradition process in 13 separate matters. This included several unsuccessful applications to the High Court of Australia.”
Mr Vasiljkovic’s final avenue of appeal to the High Court was rejected in May. He is believed to be the first accused war criminal to be extradited by Australia. TimeBase has previously written about criticism from international law experts who believe that Australia does not give enough priority to war crimes cases.
Process of Extradition from Australia
The international extradition process in Australia is governed by the Extradition Act 1988 (Cth) and administered by the International Crime Cooperation Central Authority, which is part of the Attorney-General’s Department.
Under the Act, countries must be defined as “extradition countries” by regulation before Australia will consider an extradition request, although there is a separate process for extradition between Australia and New Zealand. For example, the Extradition (Croatia) Regulations 2004 (Cth) declare Croatia to be an extradition country.
The next step in the process is for the Attorney-General or the Minister for Justice to accept the extradition request. They must be satisfied that the request is from an extradition country and relates to an “extraditable person”, where a warrant has been issued for their offence or they have been convicted of an offence (see s 6 of the Act).
If the request is accepted, the Attorney-General or the Minister issues a formal notice. A magistrate then issues an extradition arrest warrant, which is executed by Australian police. At this stage, a person may waive the extradition process. If they do not, a magistrate or judge will then need to consider if the person is “eligible for surrender” under s 19 of the Act. This includes considering if there are additional requirements to the process that have been imposed by regulations, or whether there is “dual criminality” or an “extradition objection”. The Act requires dual criminality – that the conduct would be an offence in Australia as well as the foreign country (s 19(2)(c)).
Extradition objections (s 7) that must be considered at this stage include:
- If the extradition is a political offence;
- If the surrender is sought for purpose of prosecuting on grounds of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, nationality or political opinions;
- If the person may be prejudiced at his or her trial, or punished, detained or restricted in his or her personal liberty, by reason of his or her race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, nationality or political opinions;
- If the offence is a military offence only; or
- If the person has been acquitted, pardoned or already punished for the offence in Australia or the requesting country.
If the magistrate or judge determines the person to be eligible for surrender, they will be committed to prison to await the Attorney-General’s or Minister’s determination, unless there are “special circumstances”.
The Attorney-General or Minister for Justice then decide if the person should be surrendered. Under s 22 of the Act they must consider further grounds including if there are grounds for believing the person will be tortured and whether the offence they have committed is punishable by death.
If the determination is made, or the person waives the extradition process (and a magistrate confirms the consent is voluntary), the person will then be surrendered.
Many of these steps are subject to judicial review, which can substantially lengthen the process.
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