Artukovic’s Latest Appeal Turned Down

Accused Nazi war criminal Andrija Artukovic’s appeal of an order allowing his extradition to Yugoslavia to face war-crimes charges was denied Thursday by a federal judge in Los Angeles.

Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real upheld a magistrate’s May 1, 1985, ruling that Artukovic, a longtime Seal Beach resident, could be deported.

In Yugoslavia he faces charges that he oversaw the murders of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and other minorities while a high-ranking minister with the Croatian puppet government installed by the Nazis during World War II.

Arrested in Seal Beach

Artukovic was taken into custody by U.S. marshals on Nov. 14, 1984, at his two-story town house in the gated Seal Beach community of Surfside Colony.

Real issued a brief order Thursday upholding the decision of U.S. Magistrate Volney V. Brown Jr., who presided over a lengthy extradition hearing last year.

“The opinion of Magistrate Brown correctly states the law and is supported by evidence presented during the many hearings,” Real wrote.

Michael Dacquisto, one of Artukovic’s lawyers, said “we were never very hopeful” that Real would block extradition. He said he would appeal immediately to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The State Department will make the final decision whether Artukovic is sent back to Yugoslavia. He came to the United States in 1948, allegedly under a false name.

Brown, however, ordered the government not to remove Artukovic from the country until his appeals were resolved.

Because he has a heart condition and numerous other ailments, Artukovic has been held in prison hospitals and presently is housed at Terminal Island Federal Prison in San Pedro. Real and Brown have denied numerous requests for bail.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday also rejected Artukovic’s request for bail.

Artukovic’s attorneys and his son, Radislav Artukovic, asked Brown earlier this month to re-open the extradition hearing. They claimed to have evidence showing that incriminating evidence against Artukovic from Yugoslav authorities had been falsified.

Family’s Version

His family has always contended that the Yugoslav government wanted to prosecute Artukovic for being anti-communist and was prompted to request his extradition by the Nazi-hunting arm of the State Department, the Office of Special Investigations.

Dacquisto said Brown rejected the request on Wednesday, the day before Real’s denial of the appeal. Dacquisto said the pair of disappointing rulings could mean that “our new evidence will not be heard.”

Radislav Artukovic, 37, said Thursday he was still optimistic. “I believe some court some day will listen to us.”

He claims to have documentation from Yugoslavian archives that proves the falsehood of key testimony against his father. A soldier in the Croatian forces under Artukovic said in a sworn statement from Yugoslavia that he saw Artukovic give orders to have innocent people killed.

Real also rejected Artukovic’s plea last month that his extradition be blocked to retaliate against the Yugoslavs for refusing to extradite the Palestinian mastermind of last year’s hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in which an American tourist was shot and killed.