"He has made some insulting comments on Croatia and its citizens. Evidently, the wheels of justice grind slowly but they do in fact grind," Mesic said alluding to the lengthy process of bringing Vasiljkovic to justice.
The Australian police in Sydney arrested Vasiljkovic on the basis on an international arrest warrant issued by Croatian authorities, the German news agency DPA reported on Friday. Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said that the Australian government would closely cooperate with the Croatian authorities to ensure that the extradition procedure was in line with Australian legislation. He added that the Croatian authorities now had to send a formal extradition request.
The 51-year-old Vasiljkovic is charged, in his capacity as commander of a special Serb paramilitary unit, with torturing and killing captive Croatian soldiers and police in a prison in Knin in June and July 1991 as well as in Bruska near Benkovac in February 1993.
Asked by reporters about his meeting with controversial Serbian businessman and politician Bogoljub Karic, President Mesic, who was attending a reception at the Croatian Bar Association, said that he met Karic in a restaurant yesterday.
"I was there for several minutes, and Mr. Karic was already there. We exchanged greetings and had a brief conversation on the situation in our region. He informed me about his views on what is going on in Serbia. We then parted, and I left for some other meeting," the Croatian president said.
He added that his meeting with Karic was accidental as one or two hours before he had had no knowledge of it.
Asked whether his meeting with Karic could worsen Zagreb's relations with the Serbian government, Mesic said that he had the right to meet Opposition representatives, particularly in light of the fact that no decisions had been made at the meeting.
Mesic also declined to comment on the motion of the UN war crimes tribunal's prosecution for a joinder of the case against Generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac with that against General Ante Gotovina. He said he would not comment on ongoing proceedings.