War criminal Captain Dragan to remain in Lepoglava prison

The County Court in Varaždin has rejected a request for probationary release of Dragan Vailjković, better known as Captain Dragan, for whom the Supreme Court reduced a sentence for war crimes against Croatian soldiers and civilians from 15 to 13.5 years in prison.

The Varaždin Court council concluded, taking into account information received from the Centre for Diagnostics in Zagreb and the Lepoglava corrections facility, that the request is unfounded.

In its explanation the court stated that the “prisoner is well behaved,” but the short period of time spent in serving the sentence should be taken into account so that the court “cannot conclude how the prisoner will function, because until now he has not been evaluated and there is no information related to the serving of his individual sentence.”

Furthermore, a report from the Centre for Diagnostics states that the prisoner negates committing the crimes and considers his sentence to be undeserved, which indicates that the purpose of the sentence has not been achieved. “The prisoner is uncritical and there has been no change in his behavior after committing the crime,” concluded the court.

At the court hearing regarding probationary release, Dragan Vasiljković approved the submission of the request via video link and did not want to add anything. According to the court decision, his representative noted that all presumptions have been fulfilled that have been set by law to approve probationary release and he has served nine tenths of his sentence. Vasiljković’s lawyer also noted that in adopting the decision it should be taken into account that a decision is being made regarding the individual Dragan Vasiljković and not “Captain Dragan.”

The Deputy County State Attorney in Varaždin said that there are many examples in court practice where probationary release has been refused for prisoners that have successfully served the program of their prison sentences and that in this case it is a prisoner who, according to information from the file, considers his sentence undeserved and expresses scepticism against the judicial body of the Republic of Croatia.

He believes that because of this there is no reason to approve probationary release, but the council will adopt a decision exclusively on the basis of information contained in the court files, not on the basis of information or impressions gained in the media or in any other manner.

Vasiljković was convicted of crimes committed in the Knin fortress and during an attack on Glina, while due to a lack of evidence at the Split Court he was acquitted of ordering the murder of two unnamed captured Croatian soldiers in February 1993 in Bruška near Benkovac.

Captain Dragan, who has both Serbian and Australian citizenship, was arrested 12 years ago in Australia where he lived under a false name and was a golf instructor. In July 2015 he was extradited to Croatia and from the very beginning he negated the crimes that he was accused of and claimed that witnesses gave false testimonies.

Source: HRT