Australian war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic has been released from a Croatian prison after serving his time for two war crimes.
Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan, was escorted across the border to Serbia by armed guards, and has been placed in quarantine for the coronavirus.
Once he has been cleared of the disease, Vasiljkovic will be free to stay in Serbia, where he is treated as a hero for leading a paramilitary group in the Balkans War.
However he has been banned from entering any European Union country for 30 years, and Australian officials are also looking at taking away his Australian passport and right to live in Australia. Vasiljkovic has both Serbian and Australian citizenship.
Vasiljkovic was given a 13½-year sentence for two war crimes committed when he was leading a paramilitary pro-Serbian group during the war in the 1990s.
He was sentenced after The Australian had located Vasiljkovic hiding in plain sight as a golf instructor in Perth.
His time behind bars included nearly 10 years of detention in Sydney while contesting his extradition to Croatia to face the war crimes trial.
Croatian courts had repeatedly refused to let Vasiljkovic out early, even though it is usual practice for criminals to only serve half of their time behind bars.
This was because Vasiljkovic had not offered any contrition for his crimes.
One report from the Lepoglava prison where he had been detained for part of his sentence, said he behaved badly and was under a minor disciplinary order at one stage. He had complained repeatedly of being a victim of the Croatian justice system.
Jacquelin Magnay
Foreign Correspondent
@jacquelinmagnay
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