POŽEGA - “The prosecution of Nazi war criminals is a test for every government, and those governments which do not want to face their history usually have the lowest level of democracy,” said Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center , on Monday after his meeting with Požega Mayor Zdravko Ronko.
Zuroff is dissatisfied with the fact that the Croatian judiciary has not done anything with regard to arresting Milivoj Ašner, who is suspected of war crimes during WWII. His disappointment is even greater considering that Ašner lives in his apartment in Klagenfurt , and that Croatia has not yet started the procedure for his extradition despite the fact that the SWC submitted its original request and the evidence against him on June 30 th last year.
“Although all this is known, until today no one from the competent authorities has spoken with Ašner, and he is unavailable to the Croatian police. Since he is an old man, it is the last moment for him to be prosecuted while it is still possible,” said Zuroff, adding that the accused recently gave several interviews in which he said that he would repeat the crimes he committed in 1941.
The director of the Wiesenthal Center announced that he would be meeting with Attorney- General Mladen Bajic and President Stjepan Mesic regarding this case.
The director of the SWC, Dr. Zuroff, submitted allegations that Ašner, as Ustasha chief of police in Požega in 1941 and 1942, committed war crimes against civilians. In March of this year, a request for his investigation and seizure was submitted to the County Court in Pozega, along with around one hundred pages of materials regarding his activities. The evidence against Ašner, who lived in Daruvar, was submitted based on research conducted by a youngster from Požega named Alen Budaj on the persecution of Jews in the territory of Požega during WWII. According to various sources, Ašner was arrested in Bleiburg but escaped and reached Austria where he lived for many years. There, he tried to present himself as a victim of fascist terror, and he returned to live in Croatia in 1991.
After his identity was revealed and the accusations made against Ašner, 92 today, he managed to disappear from Daruvar. According to what Efraim Zuroff says, he lives in own apartment in Klagenfurt , in Paulitschgasse 8, at the entrance to the center of the town.
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