"I appeal to Austrian state authorities to extradite Milivoj Asner, who has been accused of the war crime of genocide against the civilian population, to a Croatian court for the purpose of administration of justice," Budaj said in a detailed letter addressed to Austrian President Heinz Fischer and senior government officials.
Hina obtained a copy of the letter on Thursday.
Asner, 92, is suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian population, mainly Jews and Serbs, while serving as chief of police of the Nazi-style Ustasha regime in Pozega, about 180 kilometres east of Zagreb, in 1941 and 1942.
After the Second World War Asner escaped to Austria where he lived peacefully for years. He returned to Croatia in 1991, but fled again to Austria on the day the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre brought charges against him. He now lives in his son's apartment in Klagenfurt.
Asner is the subject of an investigation launched by the Pozega County Court. He has dual Croatian and Austrian citizenship, but under the Austrian law he may not be extradited to another country.
Budaj discovered the case after years of research into the history of the Jewish community in Pozega.