Croat Nazi would stand trial, but Austria disagrees

Milivoj Ašner, a former Ustasha spotted in Austria "in apparent good health", says he is willing to be tried for war crimes, Haaretz reports.

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Wednesday, 18.06.2008.

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Milivoj Asner, a former Ustasha spotted in Austria "in apparent good health", says he is willing to be tried for war crimes, Haaretz reports. But the Tel Aviv daily adds the Austrian authorities continue to insist that they cannot extradite him to Croatia, saying their "hands are tied because medical exams indicated that Asner is unfit to stand trial". Croat Nazi would stand trial, but Austria disagrees The most the government can do, an Austrian Justice Ministry official told reporters yesterday, is order additional medical exams. A number of British newspapers last week ran stories about the 95-year-old former official of the Second World War puppet Nazi regime in Croatia as "relaxing in Klagenfurt" and supporting his country's football team in the ongoing EURO 2008 football championship. "I would welcome the chance to answer these accusations in a Croatian court," Asner, who ranks fourth on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the 10 most-wanted Nazi criminals, told the British tabloid The Sun in an article published yesterday. "I don't have anything to do with it. I did not have enough responsibility to order deportation." Asner is accused of orchestrating the destruction of Serb, Jewish and Roma communities in Croatia by sending hundreds to die in concentration camps while he served as police chief of town of Pozega during the Second World War. But Haaretz quotes Asner as saying he "never served as police chief and denies that there were any deportations from Pozega". "I don't know of anyone deported from Pozega. Nobody was murdered. I never heard of one single family murdered in Pozega," he said in the Sun interview. Croatia has asked Austria to extradite Asner, but the Austrian government says he cannot be tried because of his advanced age and because he suffers from poor physical health and dementia. The Sun, however, published pictures of him this week taking a lengthy stroll with his wife, sitting in cafes and cheering Croatia's team. The images "make it abundantly clear that Asner is in good health, lucid and able to get around on his own," Efraim Zuroff, the Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a letter Monday to Austrian Justice Minister Maria Berger. "There has been a slight improvement in Austria's handling of Nazi war crimes cases, but much remains to be done if your country is to finally disprove its reputation as a paradise for Holocaust perpetrators."

Croat Nazi would stand trial, but Austria disagrees

The most the government can do, an Austrian Justice Ministry official told reporters yesterday, is order additional medical exams.

A number of British newspapers last week ran stories about the 95-year-old former official of the Second World War puppet Nazi regime in Croatia as "relaxing in Klagenfurt" and supporting his country's football team in the ongoing EURO 2008 football championship.

"I would welcome the chance to answer these accusations in a Croatian court," Ašner, who ranks fourth on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the 10 most-wanted Nazi criminals, told the British tabloid The Sun in an article published yesterday.

"I don't have anything to do with it. I did not have enough responsibility to order deportation."

Ašner is accused of orchestrating the destruction of Serb, Jewish and Roma communities in Croatia by sending hundreds to die in concentration camps while he served as police chief of town of Požega during the Second World War.

But Haaretz quotes Ašner as saying he "never served as police chief and denies that there were any deportations from Požega".

"I don't know of anyone deported from Požega. Nobody was murdered. I never heard of one single family murdered in Požega," he said in the Sun interview.

Croatia has asked Austria to extradite Ašner, but the Austrian government says he cannot be tried because of his advanced age and because he suffers from poor physical health and dementia.

The Sun, however, published pictures of him this week taking a lengthy stroll with his wife, sitting in cafes and cheering Croatia's team.

The images "make it abundantly clear that Ašner is in good health, lucid and able to get around on his own," Efraim Zuroff, the Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a letter Monday to Austrian Justice Minister Maria Berger.

"There has been a slight improvement in Austria's handling of Nazi war crimes cases, but much remains to be done if your country is to finally disprove its reputation as a paradise for Holocaust perpetrators."

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