Croatia court rejects ex-spy’s bid to stop extradition

Croatia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the country’s former top spy to stop his extradition to Germany, paving a way towards ending a row with the European Union, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Josip Perkovic, wanted under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) which regulates extradition between the bloc’s 28 member states, should be extradited since the court “rejected his appeal as unfounded,” spokesman Drazen Tripalo said in a statement.

Perkovic is wanted by Germany for his alleged involvement in the 1983 murder of a Croatian immigrant who was opposed to Yugoslavia’s communist regime at the time.

Perkovic, a former Yugoslav secret service agent and Croatia’s ex-head of intelligence, is expected to be extradited within the next 10 days, although his lawyer says he may file another appeal with the Constitutional Court.

He has denied any links with the murder of Stjepan Djurekovic and is fighting extradition to Germany claiming he would not get a fair trial there, his lawyer Anto Nobilo said.

Perkovic was briefly arrested on January 1 after Croaita lifted a limitation it had imposed on extraditions within the EU.

He was released two days later pending a final decision on his extradition.

The issue of extradition sparked a dispute between the EU and Croatia right after the Balkan country joined the bloc in July.

Just days before becoming a member, Croatia changed its domestic law regarding European warrants. The change in the law made it impossible to extradite people wanted for crimes allegedly committed before August 2002, the date the EAW was introduced.

The move left Croatia sharply at odds with its 27 EU partners, notably Germany, which was seeking Perkovic’s arrest.

Following the dispute with Brussels, Zagreb eventually amended the law in October.

Local media have speculated that Zagreb was reluctant to extradite Perkovic as he may hold compromising information on influential people in Croatia.

But the government denied such reports, saying its aim was to protect veterans of the 1990s independence war from being investigated by the EU.

Since January 1, Croatia has arrested 10 people wanted within the EU.