Attorneys for Andrija Artukovic asked a Los...
Attorneys for Andrija Artukovic asked a Los Angeles federal judge to issue contempt citations against Atty. Gen. William French Smith and U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner for allegedly ignoring a 1977 court order by moving to extradite Artukovic to Yugoslavia to face charges of complicity in the mass murder of Jews, Gypsies and Serbs during World War II. Artukovic, 85, of Seal Beach, who is now in failing health, was the former interior minister for Croatia. Senior U.S. District Judge Irving Hill stayed government deportation efforts in 1977, and Artukovic’s lawyers asked Hill to consider the contempt action in view of his earlier action. In a brief hearing, Hill set a Feb. 19 date to consider the request.
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