Ustasha suspect protests innocence

A suspected former Ustasha member has confessed to the deportation of Jews, Serbs and Roma, but says they weren’t sent to camps but to their homelands. "My view was that if you were not a Croat and you hated Croatia, you were more than welcome to go to your homeland, to Belgrade, to Vojvodina, and leave us Croats alone,” Milivoj Asner told Croatian Television. Ustasha suspect protests innocence He also denied his role in the deaths of many Serbs, Jews and Roma when chief of the ustasha police in Pozega during the Second World War. Asner, the fourth most wanted Nazi in the world, today lives under the alias of Georg in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt, and denies that anything bad happened to Serbs, Jews and Roma who were loyal citizens of Croatia. "Those who were not loyal had to go. We deported them to their homelands. We did not send them to camps because it was too expensive. You had to look after them and feed them,” Asner said. He said that his conscience was clear and that he was prepared to face the Croatian courts, which would, provided the judges were men of honor, have no choice but to clear him of all charges, because, if nothing else, he was a Croat. Asner, who is proud of his Croatian origins, and who came to prominence when he was filmed cheering on Croatian football supporters in the streets of Klagenfurt at Euro 2008, claimed that he did not know that an indictment had even been issued for his arrest. He also claimed that he did not know Dusan Janosevic, the man who recognized him on the footage, and who alleges that Asner systematically tortured and beat him with wet rope him in Pozega prison over the course of several months. As chief of ustasha police, Asner is suspected of incarcerating Serbs, Jews and Roma from Pozega and deporting them to camps.

Ustasha suspect protests innocence

He also denied his role in the deaths of many Serbs, Jews and Roma when chief of the ustasha police in Požega during the Second World War.

Ašner, the fourth most wanted Nazi in the world, today lives under the alias of Georg in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt, and denies that anything bad happened to Serbs, Jews and Roma who were loyal citizens of Croatia.

"Those who were not loyal had to go. We deported them to their homelands. We did not send them to camps because it was too expensive. You had to look after them and feed them,” Ašner said.

He said that his conscience was clear and that he was prepared to face the Croatian courts, which would, provided the judges were men of honor, have no choice but to clear him of all charges, because, if nothing else, he was a Croat.

Ašner, who is proud of his Croatian origins, and who came to prominence when he was filmed cheering on Croatian football supporters in the streets of Klagenfurt at Euro 2008, claimed that he did not know that an indictment had even been issued for his arrest.

He also claimed that he did not know Dušan Janošević, the man who recognized him on the footage, and who alleges that Ašner systematically tortured and beat him with wet rope him in Požega prison over the course of several months.

As chief of ustasha police, Ašner is suspected of incarcerating Serbs, Jews and Roma from Požega and deporting them to camps.