Dragan Vasiljković
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| Dragan Vasiljković | |
|---|---|
| Born: December 12, 1954 | |
| Nickname | Kapetan Dragan (Captain Dragan) Daniel Snedden |
| Place of birth | Belgrade:Serbia |
| Allegiance | Serbia |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands | Knindže |
| Battles/wars | Krajina war of Independence |
| Awards | Hero Of Serbia |
| Other work | Golf instructor Pilot |
Dragan Vasiljković, nicknamed Kapetan Dragan, was a founder and captain of the Serbian paramilitary unit called Knindže, and is now a golf instructor in Australia. He is accused of war crimes by the Republic of Croatia, and is currently being held in an Australian prison while extradition is being considered.
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[edit] Biography
Dragan Vasiljković was born December 12, 1954 in a Serbian Orthodox family in Belgrade. His father Zivorad died in a motorcycle accident while Dragan was still young. In early childhood, he was placed in foster home Dragutin Filipović Jusa because his mother could not raise three children. In 1967 he went to Australia with his mother and two siblings under the name Daniel Snedden. After he finished high school in Melbourne he worked in a photo shop. He spent 4 years in the Australian Army's reserve unit 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse. After his military service, he served as a weapons instructor in Africa and South America. In 1991 he returned during the Croatian war of independence to Krajina as a volunteer where he founded the special forces under the Ministry of the Interior of the then Republic of Serbian Krajina (Republika Srpska Krajina). These special unit was called Knindže after the Krajina's capital of Knin and the famous Ninja fighters, because Dragan's forces were highly disciplined and scored a number of successful commando actions against Croatian secessionist paramilitaries. During the war he founded the Largest NGO Fond Kapetan Dragan - helping victims of war. After the war he returned to Perth, Western Australia. He was also a presidential candidate of Serbia in 1991, flew a single engine aircraft PA32 (N3507W) across the Atlantic in 1990, sailed around the world (SY THYNDERCHILD - cutter rig) and is a golfer single figure handicap. Dragan also helped with securing the Radio station Studio B and B92 in Belgrade during popular uprising against Slobodan Milosevic and help Serbia achieve freedom.
[edit] War crimes
He is accused by the Republic of Croatia for, in June and July 1991, in a prison on a Knin fortress, and in February 1993, in Bruška at Benkovac, torturing, beating and killing captured members of Croatian Army and Police and, as the commander of special units in July 1991 in Glina, in agreement with the commander of the tank unit JNA, making a plan to attack and take over the Glin Police station, a near city village Jukince and the villages Gornji i Donji Viduševac. During that attack, against the orders of the Geneva convention, civil buildings were damaged and ruined, citizens were forced to escape, their property was robbed and civilians (among them was a foreign journalist) were wounded and killed, but not as much damage was done or people relocated as it happened during the Operation Storm of Croatian army and Ante Gotovina. Those accusations were made after the journal The Australian reported a story about him.On the other side he is considered hero by all the Serbs when he fought Croatian terrorists and liberated Serbian land inside NDH. Only After he left Knin did Krajina fall to Croatian and NATO forces.
[edit] Victims
This is a statement from Darko Kaurić, a 41-year old Croatian ex policeman who, in the middle of 1991, after Glina fell in the hands of the Serbian paramilitary, has suffered beating from members of the squad that was under Kapetan Dragan's command: Of course I remember him. Last time I saw him I was beaten unconscious in front of him, so he should remember me too. My jaw was broken the first day of imprisonment and despite that, Dragan's men threw me on the floor and beated my head. Our bodies were completely blue and full of bruises, and they especially liked beating our earlier broken bones. Kaurić said that Kapetan Dragan did not personally beat any prisoners, but that he encouraged his subordinates to do so. He also says that during his 50-day imprisonment an officer nicknamed Kapetan Dragan visited him 3 times. His policeman colleague Milan Špoljarić, that was also imprisoned in Glina, said that in everyday beating they regularly beated his broken ribs. The journal states that after 15 years both policemen are not capable of normal work, and that they suffer from severe psychological disturbances. Both Croatian policemen say that Kapetan Dragan bragged how he led the attack on the village in which they were born, in which after it fell was discovered 20 murdered civilians.
[edit] Trial
Recently, there has been false information that indicated that Kapetan Dragan will be surrendered to Croatia so he could be put on trial. The information was breaking news in Croatia but in Australia it was considered absurd. Pre-hearing is scheduled for April 13, 2006. Then, if his lawyers don't succeed in defending him, the High Court of Australia sitting in Sydney will decide if he should or should not be surrendered to Croatia but the Australian Minister of Justice may decide whether to follow that decision it or not, as the Minister is empowered to act independently of the decisions made by the court. Kapetan Dragan is currently waiting in prison for the outcome of the hearing.
