Sydney - Wanted former Serb warlord Dragan Vasiljkovic walked free from a Sydney prison Friday after an Australian court's decision not to extradite him to face a war crimes trial in Croatia. Vasiljkovic, a 54-year-old Australian citizen also known as Daniel Snedden, gained notoriety as Captain Dragan when he organized a Serb paramilitary unit for an insurgency in Croatia.
With the encouragement and military aid of Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Belgrade, Serbs in Croatia launched the rebellion after Zagreb declared its secession from Yugoslavia in 1991.
"I will devote the rest of my life to making sure that no other Australian is going to go through such a miscarriage of justice as I have," Vasiljkovic said. "Thank God there are still some honest judges around and their unanimous decision to have me released."
Earlier this week, the Federal Court ruled that Vasiljkovic could not be guaranteed a fair trial in Zagreb and ordered his release from four years in custody.
Vasiljkovic was arrested on warrants issued by Zagreb and Interpol in January 2006 and fought extradition to Croatia every step of the way.
He has been accused as serving as the commander of a unit responsible for atrocities during the conflict in Croatia. The unit, based in the Serb stronghold of Knin, has been accused of torture, beatings and killings of captured Croatian soldiers and police.
The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia named him as one of the participants in the "joint criminal enterprise" in the Croatian war but never indicted him.
Vasiljkovic testified for the prosecution against Milosevic before the tribunal.
He returned to Australia in 1997 after the last of the self- proclaimed Serb republics in Croatia returned to Zagreb's authority.
Vasiljkovic was born in Belgrade, moved to Australia as a child but returned to Serbia in 1991 to join the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. He was working as a golf instructor when he was arrested.
