Artukovic Denied Bail a Second Time

For the second time, a federal magistrate in Los Angeles has refused to order accused Nazi war criminal Andrija Artukovic released from prison on bail.

But Magistrate Volney V. Brown--angered by reports that his orders for expanded visitation rights for the 85-year-old prisoner at a federal penitentiary in Missouri had been ignored by officials there--said Wednesday that if Artukovic is not transferred to the federal prison at Terminal Island by July 19, his release on $100,000 bail will be ordered.

Federal officials have indicated that Artukovic--who is being held pending extradition to Yugoslavia to face charges involving alleged atrocities there during World War II--will be transferred from the penitentiary at Springfield, Mo., to the prison in San Pedro several days before the deadline imposed by Brown.

Brown, who had presided over the Orange County man’s extradition hearing earlier this year, originally had removed himself from Wednesday’s bail hearing, saying it would be improper for him to review a case on which he had already ruled. Brown first denied bail last March.

Magistrate John R. Kronenberg--who had indicated previously that he might order Artukovic’s immediate release on bail--was then assigned the hearing by lot.

But on Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel Real took Kronenberg off the case, ruling that it was even less proper for one magistrate to “sit in judgment on the rulings of another magistrate.”

Real ordered Brown to preside at the hearing.

In again refusing to free Artukovic, Brown said he could find no special circumstances to override the “general rule” against the release on bail of persons held pending international extradition.

Responding to defense contentions that the frail and aging defendant should be released from federal custody in order to better protect his health, Brown disagreed.

The jurist said that when Artukovic was arrested at his home in Seal Beach last November, “he was a very sick man. . . .”

“His treatment while in custody . . . was at the very least good, or very good,” Brown said, noting that the prisoner’s alertness had increased, his bedsores had healed and he was once again able to walk short distances.

“It would appear that his condition has improved,” Brown said.

But the magistrate added that he was very disturbed by reports that his orders governing Artukovic’s visitation rights at the Springfield penitentiary were being ignored by prison officials there.

Gary Fleishman, one of Artukovic’s attorneys, said Wednesday that Brown had mandated that the defendant’s wife and children be allowed a total of 16 visits each month. Fleishman said that Springfield officials had cut that total to the same four visits accorded other prisoners, contending that Brown’s jurisdiction over the matter had expired.

David Nimmer, the assistant U.S. attorney opposing Wednesday’s bail motion, said he had no detailed information on whether the Missouri prison had been complying with Brown’s mandate.

Brown said he had conferred with the warden at Terminal Island and was confident that his orders would be obeyed here.

The magistrate told Fleishman and Nimmer to work out some sort of agreement acceptable to Terminal Island authorities under which Artukovic would be granted “unfettered access to his attorney and . . . more than reasonable access to his family.”

Artukovic, described by federal officials as one of the highest-ranking war criminals still living in this country, served as a minister of interior and justice in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia.

The current Yugoslav government accuses him of complicity in the execution of 770,000 Serbs, Jews and Gypsies during World War II.

Artukovic, who has denied the charges, has been ordered extradited to face trial in Yugoslavia in the murders of thousands of civilians.