Dinko Sakic's Portfolio
From the Press
Srpska Mreza

WASHINGTON - The United States on Monday urged Argentina to detain quickly a Croatian said to have headed a World War Two concentration camp and praised Croatia for seeking his extradition to face trial for war crimes.

Dinko Sakic, 76, has lived in Argentina for 50 years. The Argentine government petitioned a court for his arrest last Tuesday after a television report that he commanded the Jasenovac camp in Croatia from December 1942 to October 1944.

``We applaud the seriousness with which the Argentine government appears to be taking this matter and urge it to take all necessary steps to assure that Mr Sakic is brought to justice,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

``These allegations are very serious and we believe that he should be detained quickly and vigorously prosecuted,'' Rubin told a news briefing.

Croatian Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic said Friday that Zagreb would ask for Sakic to be extradited to Croatia.

``We welcome reports that Croatia will request his extradition, and we look forward to a vigorous prosecution and a fair trial in a court of law, if that moves forward,'' Rubin added.

Thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies died at Jasenovac during World War Two. Estimates range from 85,000 to 600,000.

Croatia at the time was under the rule of the fascist Ustasha government, a puppet of Adolf Hitler's Nazis.

Rubin said that while Croatia would have an ``especially strong interest'' in trying Sakic, he could be also be tried in Serbia, Bosnia or Slovenia, as many of the Jasenovac victims were from their territories.

But he ruled out that the trial could be before the Hague-based International Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia, which is only prosecuting crimes that occurred after January 1, 1991.