Magistrate Worried About ‘This Gallant Old Man’ Artukovic

U.S. Magistrate Volney Brown said today that a government plan to move the ailing alleged war criminal Andrija Artukovic--whom he called “this gallant old man”--to a Missouri prison hospital seems unfair but doubted that he could stop it.

The 85-year-old Artukovic, who suffers from a variety of ailments including senility, has been ordered extradited to Yugoslavia for the World War II murder of at least one man.

“It is a concern to the court and all of us who have come to know this gallant old man that his physical health be protected,” Brown said, expressing concern for the health of the defendant if he is transferred to the U.S. Medical Facility at Springfield, Mo. But he said he felt that the law regarding extradition proceedings may not allow him to order that Artukovic remain at Long Beach Naval Hospital, where he has been held for three months.