A director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Serbian authorities on Wednesday to seek the extradition of two Croatia-born men and try them for alleged World War II atrocities against Jews, Serbs and Gypsies.Efraim Zuroff, the Los Angeles-based center’s chief Nazi hunter, met in Belgrade with President Boris Tadic and Justice Ministry officials, advising them to join efforts to bring to justice Ivo Rojnica and Milivoj Asner.The men served in Croatia’s World War II Nazi puppet regime and allegedly took part in the prosecution and death camp deportations of hundreds of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies, Zuroff said.

Although the men are not Serbian citizens and their alleged crimes were committed in the territory of present-day Croatia, the ethnicity of some of the victims “entitles Serbia to seek extradition” of Rojnica and Asner, living in Argentina and Austria, respectively, Zuroff said.

Last year, Croatia indicted Asner for crimes against humanity and war crimes, but Austrian authorities failed to arrest the 92-year-old man. Croatia has since shown little resolve to press for the handover of Asner, or to seek extradition of Rojnica, 90, who is believed to be living in Buenos Aires, Zuroff said.

“When it comes to the Second World War cases, in our attempts to see justice done it has always been important to consider the victim’s origins and identity,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Serbian officials.

Rojnica is allegedly responsible for crimes committed against hundreds of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies in the southern city of Dubrovnik. Asner allegedly sent victims from the town of Slavonska Poega to a Croat-run death camp where most of them later died.

“The passing of time does not diminish what those men did. If someone committed a war crime in 1941 or 1942 and if 60 years have passed and they were not brought to justice, it does not mean that person’s responsibility is not the same today as it was then,” said Zuroff, who spearheads “Operation: Last Chance,” an effort to get Nazi suspects arrested and tried before they die.

Tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies perished during the so-called Independent State of Croatia, which the Nazis set up when they invaded the former Yugoslavia in 1941 and encouraged ethnic violence among the country’s diverse population.

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Source: WP