Croatian Court Rules to Extradite Josip Perković to Germany
- by croatiaweek
- in Latest
A panel judges of the Zagreb County Court ruled on Wednesday that the man at the centre of a dispute between the EU and Croatia is to be extradited to face charges in Germany…
Josip Perković, a former Yugoslav intelligence agent, was wanted in Germany for his role in the murder of dissident Stjepan Djureković in 1983. Perković was arrested just hours after the European Arrest Warrant (EWA)without time restrictions legislation came into force in Croatia on 1 January.
European Arrest Warrant legislation was a bone of contention in the country, and just a few days before Croatia’s entry into the European Union on 1 July 2013, external pressure from the EU saw the Croatian parliament adopt amendments to the legislation on Croatia’s judicial cooperation with other EU members, which made it impossible for Croatia to apply EAW for crimes perpetrated before August 2002. The amendments drew severe criticism from the leading opposition party and the public in Croatia.