A representative of the Australian State Attorney's Office said at a Central Local Court hearing today that the Australian justice minister had approved the extradition request.
The extradition process has thus begun but although the court of first instance approved it, the process might take long so it is impossible to say at this moment when it will be completed, said the Croatian ministry, which requested the extradition on February 9.
A former commander of Serb paramilitaries in Croatia and now an Australian citizen, Vasiljkovic was arrested in Sydney on January 20 on an international warrant issued by Croatia. He has been in custody since then and, as Reuters reported last week, the Australian Supreme Court approved a hearing on April 13 at which he will state his arguments against extradition to Croatia.
The County Prosecutor's Office in Sibenik charged Vasiljkovic with breaching the Geneva conventions as commander of a special Serb paramilitary unit and as commander of a training centre for the Alfa special unit.
He is suspected of torturing and killing captured Croatian soldiers and police in Knin in June and July 1991, and in Bruska near Benkovac in February 1993.
He is also charged, as commander of special units, with devising, in cooperation with the commander of a former Yugoslav People's Army tank unit, plans of attacks on Glina and two nearby villages. The attacks damaged and destroyed civilian buildings, forced the population to flee, their property was plundered, and civilians were killed and wounded, including a foreign reporter.
Vasiljkovic has dismissed the accusations, labelling the warrant for his arrest as Zagreb's attempt to put pressure on Serbs.