The Region - News from March 23, 1986

The son of alleged Nazi war criminal Andrija Artukovic says Yugoslav officials have not responded to his month-old request for a visa to attend his father’s trial for war crimes and he is afraid he won’t be admitted to the country. Rad Artukovic, who lost a legal battle to prevent the extradition of his 86-year-old father to his native land, said he has asked the U.S. government for help. Artukovic, who flew to West Germany recently to meet with lawyers who will represent his father, said he has been told the trial will be held in mid-April in Zagreb. The Yugoslavs previously have labeled Andrija Artukovic, the interior minister of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, as the “Butcher of the Balkans” responsible for thousands of wartime murders of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. The aged Artukovic spent more than 30 years successfully fighting extradition.