Magistrate Rejects Bid to End Artukovic Case

A federal magistrate rejected a defense move to halt extradition proceedings against accused Nazi war criminal Andrija Artukovic on Wednesday after a Justice Department official denied instigating Yugoslavia’s extradition request.

U.S. Magistrate Volney V. Brown Jr. ruled that there was no evidence that the government “acted impermissibly” by meeting with Yugoslav officials before that country’s extradition request was filed last November.

Brown also rejected without comment defense attorney Gary Fleischman’s contention that his client’s right to due process was violated because 25 years had elapsed since Yugoslavia last asked for Artukovic’s return. That request was denied in 1959 because of insufficient evidence.

The magistrate’s action clears the way for the extradition hearing to proceed next Tuesday against the 85-year-old former interior minister in the Nazi puppet regime of wartime Croatia.

Yugoslav authorities contend that he is responsible for the deaths of 700,000 Serbs, Jews and Gypsies who were sent to concentration camps by the pro-Nazi regime. They say they have new evidence to support their claims.

Artukovic’s attorneys say he may be too enfeebled to take part in the extradition proceeding. Since his arrest, Artukovic, a resident of Seal Beach, has been held in custody at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Long Beach. He suffers from a variety of crippling diseases associated with age.

Wednesday’s hearing before Brown centered on the testimony of Neal Sher, head of the Justice Department’s office of special investigations, which is responsible for bringing suspected Nazi war criminals to justice.

Frustration Suggested

Defense attorney Fleischman argued that the Justice Department, frustrated by its inability to have Artukovic deported, acted improperly by suggesting to Yugoslav authorities that they file a request for extradition.

The U.S. deportation moves against Artukovic, which are separate from Yugoslavia’s extradition efforts, date to 1952. U.S. authorities were seeking to deport Artukovic for allegedly entering the country after World War II under a false name.

Sher testified that he and other Justice Department officials routinely advised authorities at the Yugoslav Embassy in Washington about the status of deportation proceedings against Artukovic.

Sher said he went to Yugoslavia in July, 1983, to gather evidence for an appeals court hearing on the government’s deportation effort. He said his office never suggested that Yugoslavia again try to have Artukovic extradited.