War-crime accused is a hero: court told

[CroRadio.net]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/

War-crime accused is a hero: court told
18:26 AEST Mon Apr 20 2009


Former Serb paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic.
A court heard that a man accused of being a war criminal was a '
Serbian hero' whose life is ruined.


A man accused of war crimes was a "Serbian hero" whose custody in
Sydney and possible extradition to Croatia were triggered by a
defamatory newspaper article, a judge has been told.

A family friend described Belgrade-born Australian citizen Dragan
Vasiljkovic as the hero, while his barrister said The Australian
newspaper article led to his detention and the push to extradite him.

Justice Megan Latham is being asked to rule on the war crime claims in
his defamation case, before he could face a trial in Croatia for war
crimes.

Mr Vasiljkovic, 54, is suing the paper's publisher Nationwide News Pty
Limited for defamation over a September 8, 2005 article that included
a photograph of him with a skull.

He has been in Sydney's Parklea jail since his arrest in January 2006,
after a request from the Republic of Croatia for his extradition for
questioning over alleged war crimes in that country in the early
1990s.

In 2007, a NSW Supreme Court jury found the article contained
defamatory meanings, including that he was a death squad commander,
was a mercenary, condoned the rape of women and girls and had admitted
committing a massacre.

He has repeatedly denied the claims.

Justice Latham is now holding a hearing in relation to The
Australian's defence of some of the meanings being true, and on the
amount of damages he should receive if he is successful.

Mr Vasiljkovic, who is appealing a Federal Court decision upholding
his extradition, was present at the defamation hearing, guarded by two
prison officers.

His barrister, Clive Evatt, said: "We say that the custody and
Croatian government action was triggered by this article."

But Tom Blackburn SC, for Nationwide News, said "that was very much in
dispute".

Nada Lukich-Bruce, a family friend of Mr Vasiljkovic whose now late
father served under him in Serbia, told the judge she regularly visits
him in jail.

His reputation with her father and among Australian Serbians was that
of a "good commander, a fair man".

"This man was regarded as a Serbian hero," she said, adding he told
her his life had been ruined by the article that upset and hurt him.

In cross-examination, Mr Blackburn said Mr Vasiljkovic was actually
upset about the prospect of forcibly being returned to Croatia and
about being in custody for years.

While she agreed he was upset about those matters, she said he also
had been "very upset" by the article as it had "started everything".

While she was a member of the Serbs for Justice group, she denied
being one-eyed and being unable to accept Mr Vasiljkovic might have
misbehaved when he was a military commander.

"I believe he was a good and fair commander," she said.

"One of the reasons he was a hero was he gave so much aid to Serbian
refugees, also to Croats and Muslims."

The hearing, expected to continue for four weeks, will involve Mr
Blackburn calling witnesses in Croatia via videolink.