Homeland War Soldiers Slam British Court

The association of Croatian Homeland War soldiers and their family condemned a British court decision not to extradite Spanovic.

The union of associations of Croatian Homeland War soldiers and their family members on Thursday dismissed as unacceptable a British court decision not to extradite convicted war criminal Milan Spanovic to Croatia. 

“Judge Timothy Workman’s decision is shameful and led by, to us, unknown motives. It compromises Britain’s judiciary more than the Croatian judiciary is compromised”, the association said in its statement.

They also assessed that the decision had been made arbitrarily and across-the-board, without one concrete piece of evidence.

In refusing to extradite Spanovic, the British judge ascertained that the crimes he was convicted of had happened in a civil war, which meant that it would be difficult to find evidence and reconstruct them.

The union of 15 soldiers’ associations believes that the judge should not have characterised the armed conflict in Croatia, as no relevant international community body had established the character of the war.

In this manner, judge Workman prejudged the law suit Croatia had levelled against Serbia for genocide before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Spanovic was convicted in absentia to 20 years in prison for the torture and killing of civilians, looting and arson at the beginning of the Serb rebellion in Croatia in 1991.

He has been living in Great Britain since 1998 and in 2000 obtained a resident’s permit.