ZAGREB, May 28 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic on Friday submitted to relevant US government bodies a request for the extradition of priest Momcilo Djujic due to founded suspicion that during World War II, he
committed war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, the Justice Minister's cabinet reported. The Justice Ministry issued a statement noting that Separovic had recently forewarned the US Ambassador to Croatia about the impending extradition request and had on that occasion been given assurances that the fact that Djujic was an American citizen did not prevent extradition proceedings if valid evidence was produced in support of the case. Given that Djujic, currently residing in the US, is inaccessible to the judiciary of the Republic of Croatia, and since he has been charged with war crimes, which according to international law allows extradition proceedings, the extradi
ZAGREB, May 28 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir
Separovic on Friday submitted to relevant US government bodies a
request for the extradition of priest Momcilo Djujic due to founded
suspicion that during World War II, he committed war crimes against
civilians and prisoners of war, the Justice Minister's cabinet
reported.
The Justice Ministry issued a statement noting that Separovic had
recently forewarned the US Ambassador to Croatia about the
impending extradition request and had on that occasion been given
assurances that the fact that Djujic was an American citizen did not
prevent extradition proceedings if valid evidence was produced in
support of the case.
Given that Djujic, currently residing in the US, is inaccessible to
the judiciary of the Republic of Croatia, and since he has been
charged with war crimes, which according to international law
allows extradition proceedings, the extradition request was made
on sound grounds. This is the only way to bring Djujic to trial for
the crimes committed on the territory of the Republic of Croatia,
the statement explains.
Documentation submitted with the extradition request notes the
names of thousands of victims and hundreds of witnesses in a file
containing over 1,000 pages of evidence, gathered in the war crimes
case initiated by the Sibenik County Court, the statement
continues.
Based on in depth research conducted by the Sibenik County Court,
there are suspicions that from July 1941, Momcilo Djujic organised
Chetnik troops in the Dinara mountains, which he then formed as the
'Dinara Chetnik Division' in 1942, which later came under the
supreme command of war criminal Draza Mihajlovic.
The Justice Ministry's statement notes that while commanding "the
Chetnik renegades as a duke", under the protection and auspices
primarily of the Italian and later the German occupation forces,
Djujic was responsible for violations of international law during
the war because he "organised, ordered and carried out cruel terror
against the civilian population of Lika, Dalmatia, western Bosnia
and elsewhere".
Furthermore, he incited criminal rebellions as well as religious
and national hatred and intolerance.
According to the statement, Djujic implemented forced mobilisation
amongst the population, adding them to his Chetnik units which
later burnt and devastated entire villages, committed mass
tortures against civilians including children, the elderly and
women. Women were raped, property looted, massive executions and
slaughtering were committed as well as secret assassinations of
patriots by troikas, which were part of secret German units.
The ministry's statement further notes that in the regions of Knin,
Vrlika, Sinj, Sibenik, Otocac, Korenica and elsewhere, Djujic
destroyed several villages and executed more than 1,500 people. He
bloodthirstily tortured and murdered prisoners.
"For example, he ordered the massive annihilation of Croat
civilians, and at the end of 1942 and beginning of 1943 the Chetniks
commanded by Mane Rokvic executed over 230 residents, mostly
children, the elderly and women, in the villages of Gata, Zvecanje,
Cisla, Ostrovica, Dugopolje, Kotelnica, Vrlika, Stikovo and Gornje
and Donje Maovice. In many cases they gauged out their victims'
eyes, stabbed them a multitude of times, slaughtered their victims
or threw victims, while still alive, into their burning houses",
the Ministry's statement says, as supporting evidence to the
extradition request for Djujic.
(hina) sp rml