Gudelj is a resident and citizen of Australia.
Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt told Hina on Monday that she had signed a new extradition request that was sent to Australia on Tuesday.
Croatia first requested Gudelj's extradition in 2001, and then again two years later, when it sent an amended request alongside all the documents pertaining to the case.
Croatia had to send the new extradition request given that in May this year Australia returned by diplomatic channels an amended request from 2003, with a note reading that the Australian government had amended the extradition law.
Gudelj was sentenced in absentia to 20 years' imprisonment in 1994 for the murder of Reihl-Kir, the vice president of the Osijek Municipality Executive Council, Goran Zobundzija, and Osijek Municipal Assembly councillor Milan Knezevic, as well as the attempted murder of Tenja Local Community president Mirko Tubic.
In July 1991, as a reserve police officer, Gudelj fired 30 shots at a car driving the four men to Tenja for negotiations on the normalisation of relations with rebel Serbs.
After the murders, Gudelj fled the country but was arrested by the German police in 1996 on an Interpol warrant and extradited to Croatia, where the Supreme Court overturned the conviction and returned the case to the County Court in the eastern city of Osijek.
In May 1997, the Supreme Court discontinued the prosecution of Gudelj, pardoning him after assessing that the events had been directly linked to the war situation, namely that Gudelj had committed the murders as a reserve police officer guarding a police checkpoint near Osijek.
A month later, Reihl-Kir's wife lodged a constitutional complaint and the state prosecutor a request to overturn the pardon.
In March 2001, the Constitutional Court approved Jadranka Reihl-Kir's complaint and quashed the Supreme Court ruling which had pardoned Gudelj. The case was returned to the Osijek County Court for a retrial and a request for his extradition was sent to Australia.
Jadranka Reihl-Kir has accused politician Branimir Glavas of being responsible for the killing of her husband and the former coalition government and the incumbent government of lacking the political will to solve the case. She has claimed that Gudelj's staying in Australia as long as possible suits local politicians, stating that Gudelj was the executor and not the mastermind of the crime. Glavas has denied having anything to do with the case.