Wiesenthal Center Urges Croatia To Press Austria Harder for Extradition of Escaped Nazi Police Chief Ašner

Zagreb – The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff met late last night with Croatian Attorney-General Mladen Bajić and Deputy Attorney-General Antun Kvakan to discuss ongoing efforts by Croatia to prosecute escaped Ustasha police chief Milivoj Ašner (currently residing in Klagenfurt, Austria) and investigate former Ustasha governor of Dubrovnik Ivo Rojnica (currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina). In the course of the meeting, Zuroff urged the Croatian prosecutors to apply increased pressure on the Austrian authorities who have hereto refused to accede to a Croatian request for Ašner’s extradition, which was submitted in September 2005.

Croatian Attorney-General Bajić acknowledged the intransigence of the Austrian authorities and promised to urge the Croatian Justice Ministry to increase its efforts to expedite the Ašner case.

According to Zuroff:

“Time is rapidly running out in this case and therefore a concentrated effort must be made by all involved parties to finally convince the Austrian authorities that there is absolutely no basis for their refusal to turn over the former police chief of Požega to face charges for his role in the persecution and deportation to concentration camps, where they were murdered, of hundreds of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies.”

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