"This will happen very soon, most probably next week, and such requests are submitted within 45 days after the arrest," Skare Ozbolt told Hina, adding that she welcomed the decision of the Australian authorities to arrest Vasiljkovic.
Sibenik County Court judge Dalibor Dukic, who had issued an international warrant for the arrest of Vasiljkovic, ruled detention and launched an investigation, said that all documents pertaining to the case would be sent to the Justice Ministry today.
The former commander of Serb paramilitary units in Croatia, who now holds Australian citizenship, appeared briefly in court today and the court ruled detention without right to bail until the first hearing on January 27, the news agency AP reported.
If the court decides that Vasiljkovic should be extradited, Justice Minister Chris Ellison will make a final decision on whether he will be transferred to Croatia to stand trial, Reuters reported.
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.