The 59-year-old, who denies the charges, had come to Greece for vacation and it was found during passport control that he had a pending European arrest warrant against him
“Wedge” in the edition of the 59-year-old Serb, who is being held in Greek prisons on a European warrant from Croatia for war crimes, which he is accused of committing 31 years ago, during the period of civil strife in the former Yugoslavia, it seems that his homeland has entered. With a “red” notice from the Regional Court of Belgrade, Serbia requests from Greece – like Croatia earlier – his extradition for similar offenses and for the same period.
This development came shortly after the The Appeals Council of Thessaloniki gave the “green light” for his extradition to Croatiaa decision which, according to information, was subsequently ratified by the Supreme Court, where the wanted person appealed, appealing against the previous decision.
Sources with knowledge of the case estimate that the Serbian request aims to “block” his extradition to Croatia, so that his fate will be in the “hands” of the Minister of Justice, who can legally choose the country to which he will be extradited first.
In these circumstances, the 59-year-old, accompanied by two representatives of the Serbian Consulate in Thessaloniki, was taken to the Prosecutor’s Office of Appeals in Thessaloniki for the activation of the Serbian judicial request. He is reported to have stated that consents to extradition to his home country and in the next period he will be called to appear before the competent president of Appeals, who will examine whether the request is legitimate. In the event that it is established that all legal procedures are met and the request is ruled in favor, the Ministry of Justice will have the say.
Instead of a holiday in… prison
The case of the 59-year-old JC became known last June, when he was arrested in Evzones Kilkis, as he was coming on vacation to Pieria with his wife and minor daughter. During the passport check, it emerged that a European warrant from the Croatian judicial authorities is pending against him. It was a warrant, issued by the Zagreb County Prosecutor’s Office and activated through the Croatian SIReNe department (on May 13, 2019).
The warrant refers to acts prosecuted under Articles 120 and 130 para. 2 of the Croatian Basic Criminal Law of 1993, described respectively as “war crimes against civilians” and “destruction of cultural and historical monuments”.
According to the prosecution documents, he is accused of having at specific intervals between August and December 1991 with accomplices “burned, laid mines and destroyed or damaged” facilities, cultural monuments and houses in the present-day Croatian settlements of Voicin and Hum, “killing over 30 civilians”. Among the dead civilians there seem to have been some isolated cases of persons of Serbian origin.
“I’m not a war criminal”
However, during the hearing process last July before the Council of Appeals of Thessaloniki, he denied all the charges attributed to him, saying that he is not a war criminal, nor did he participate in such acts. Holding a photo of his 11-year-old daughter in his hands, he said he lives and works as a truck driver in a small Serbian town in the Vojvodina region and stressed that his extradition is being sought after more than 30 years, while he leads a peaceful life, trying to close the wounds of war. “I was kicked out of the village where I lived in Croatia with my wife of Croatian origin. They burned my house and I started a new life in Serbia with my family,” he said, appealing to the judges to “extradite” him to his homeland, so that the courts there can decide on his fate. His lawyer at the time stated, among other things, that the wanted man “will not receive a fair trial in Croatia” and that “he will be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and revanchism”.
The prosecutor of the seat had described the argument of “unfair trial” as baseless and arbitrary, pointing out that this is a member state of the European Union. “If he participated in war crimes is a matter of proof, the Greek courts do not have the competence to judge it”, he added, asking for the execution of the Croatian warrant, a position with which the Court was also drawn up.
RES-EMP
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I am Terrance Carlson, author at News Bulletin 247. I mostly cover technology news and I have been working in this field for a long time. I have a lot of experience and I am highly knowledgeable in this area. I am a very reliable source of information and I always make sure to provide accurate news to my readers.
