REQUEST FOR SAKIC'S EXTRADITION WILL PROBABLY BE HANDED ON TUESDAY

( Editorial: --> 9868 ) ZAGREB/BUENOS AIRES, April 27 (Hina) - Croatia's request for the extradition of Dinko Sakic, former commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp in World War II, will probably arrive in Buenos Aires and be delivered to the Argentinean authorities on Tuesday, Croatian Ambassador to Argentina Neda Rosandic-Saric told Hina. "As soon as the request is in Buenos Aires we will hand it to the Foreign Ministry," said the Ambassador. According to information from the Croatian Justice Ministry in Zagreb, the procedure of handing over the extradition request "is proceeding well". On April 24 the Croatian Justice Ministry sent Argentina a request for Sakic's extradition. Also sent was a request for the temporary arrest of Dinko Sakic so that he could be handed over to the Croatian authorities. On April 7 the Simon Wiesenthal Centre also requested Argentina to arrest Sakic, a day after Sakic's interview with Argentinean Television's Channel 13. Sakic said in the interview that while he was holding the high office in the camp, nobody even dared to touch prisoners. However, in a file on Sakic, compiled by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, it is said that Sakic personally participated in the killing and torture in Jasenovac and other concentration camps of the Ustasha regime. According to the file from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Sakic was commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp from December 1942 to October 1944, and was, according to the dossiers, personally involved in the killing of many civilians. Some survivors from Jasenovac contacted Argentinean Television saying they had recognised the former camp commander. According to the book "Who is Who in the NDH" (NDH - The Independent State of Croatia, 1941-1945), published in 1997, Sakic was appointed head of the General Department in the Jasenovac concentration camp in February 1942. One month later, he was transferred to Stara Gradiska as deputy to the camp commander and in November 1942 he returned to Jasenovac as deputy to the camp commander. In 1944 Sakic was appointed camp commander. Sakic has been living in Argentina with his wife Esperanza for 50 years, without hiding. His wife is half-sister to the high Ustasha official, Vjekoslav Maks Luburic. Sakic said that so far he had travelled freely everywhere under his real name and that the Wiesenthal Centre had never accused him of anything, because it could not gather evidence. According to latest reports by foreign news agencies, Sakic's whereabouts are unknown at the moment, because he left his house in Santa Teresita, a town 340km south-east of Buenos Aires, where he has been living for the past year. (hina) jn rm/mrb 271801 MET apr 98