The New South Wales Court of Appeal on Friday delivered the judgment dismissing an appeal of former Croatian Serb paramilitary leader Dragan Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan, regarding his defamation suit against The Australian for its reports in 2005 about war crimes he and his troops committed during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia.
As Vasiljkovic lost this libel suit, the court ordered him to pay costs, The Australian reported.
"Nationwide News, publisher of The Australian, spent more than $1.2 million successfully fighting Mr Vasiljkovic's Supreme Court defamation case over a 2005 article that detailed war crimes he allegedly committed in the former Yugoslavia during the Balkans conflict," the paper added.
Vasijlkovic's barrister Clive Evatt said his client would be seeking special leave to appeal to the nation's highest court, although the NSW Court of Appeals ruled that his argument "argument failed on all grounds."
"The defamation hearings in 2009 became a quasi war crimes trial as witnesses were called to prove a raft of allegations against the 56-year-old Australian citizen, including that he raped a woman, committed torture and admitted to a massacre. In December that year, judge Megan Latham ruled in favour of The Australian and Mr Vasiljkovic, under the name Daniel Snedden, immediately launched the appeal," the paper reported.
Vasiljkovic, wanted in Croatia for war crimes, is being held at Sydney's Silverwater prison as he fights his deportation.
He was arrested by the Australian police in January 2006 on a warrant for his arrest and deportation issued by Croatia.
Captain Dragan is charged with war crimes committed against captured Croatian soldiers and police in Knin and Bruska in February 1993, and of war crimes against civilians.
He was held in prison from 2006 after his arrest in Sydney until September 2009, when the Federal Court ordered his release. "The High Court ordered his arrest warrant be reinstated in April last year, and that he be extradited to Croatia, but Mr Vasiljkovic didn't appear at the hearing and spent 43 days on the run. He was arrested by Australian Federal Police at Yamba in northern NSW in May last year. Mr Vasiljkovic is appealing the High Court's order in the Federal Court," The Australian reported.
