NSW: "Serbian hero" accused of war crimes defamed, judge told

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2009
NSW: "Serbian hero" accused of war crimes defamed, judge told

By Margaret Scheikowski

SYDNEY, April 20 AAP - 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.

AAP mss/hn/it/apm

KEYWORD: VASILJKOVIC WRAP

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