UK denies extradition of alleged Serb war criminal

Milan Španović, a Croatian Serb convicted of war crimes in absentia, has been allowed to stay in Britain.

Izvor: Reuters

Wednesday, 21.03.2007.

09:34

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UK denies extradition of alleged Serb war criminal

"I am satisfied that the passage of time since the offence is alleged to have been committed would now make it unjust and oppressive to extradite the defendant and he is therefore discharged," Workman said.

Spanović, 44, was accused of torturing and shooting civilians, pillage and arson in 1991 in Croatiia. He was tried in absentia by a Croatian court in the central town of Sisak and sentenced in 1993 to 20 years in jail for war crimes.

Croatia's Justice Ministry, which had issued an international arrest warrant for Spanović, has promised to allow him a retrial if he demands it.

But Workman said there were reasons to doubt the quality of any retrial.

"The alleged offences were said to have occurred during a period of civil war in which inevitably evidence will be hard to find or reconstruct," he said.

"Witness memories after such a lengthy period during which radical change took place will have faded or be inaccurate."

Ben Lloyd, acting for the Croatian government, said the prosecution would appeal.

Španović fled to Britain in 1998 when he learnt of his conviction and despite being denied asylum was granted leave to stay for four years in 2000 and subsequently to remain indefinitely.

His arrest last year on suspicion of shoplifting revealed that he was the subject of an international arrest warrant.

That prompted the extradition proceedings and also criticism of British authorities for failing to detect his presence in the country earlier.

But Workman said Španović had not sought to hide his whereabouts since coming to Britain and had even been to the Croatian embassy several times to apply for Croatian passports for his sons.

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