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 warrant for Vasiljkovic's arrest was issued in early January by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior at the request of the Sibenik County Prosecutor's Office.
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.
He is also charged with devising, in agreement with a commander of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), a plan of attacks in the Glina area resulting in the destruction of civilian facilities, the expulsion of the local population, the plundering of their property, and the killing and wounding of civilians, including a foreign journalist.