Croatian court jails former Serb commander

A former Serb commander accused of torture and other war crimes during the Yugoslav conflict was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Croatian court on Tuesday.

Dragan Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan, had been on trial for a year in the city of Split, where he faced charges of breaking the Geneva Convention while commanding the Serb paramilitary Knindzas unit between 1991 and 1993.

Vasiljkovic, now 62, was arrested 11 years ago in Australia and extradited to Croatia in 2015.

He was accused of torturing, beating and killing captured Croatian fighters and police in a prison near Benkovac town.

The indictment against him also claimed he was behind the takeover of a number of Croatian districts during the 1991-1995 war where civilians were killed or driven out, journalists murdered and property looted.

Vasiljkovic denied the indictment and argued witness testimony against him was untrue.

This is a non-verbal judgment and Vasiljkovic has the right to appeal.