Artukovic,86, Nods Off as Trial Opens : Alleged ‘Butcher of Balkans’ Charged in Deaths of Thousands

Andrija Artukovic, who was extradited from the United States, went on trial today for Nazi war crimes. The alleged “butcher of the Balkans” appeared to doze as the prosecutor read the indictment.

The 86-year-old former interior minister of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, who lived for years in Seal Beach, Calif., sat in a special enclosure of bulletproof glass. His defense lawyers say he is senile and nearly blind.

Artukovic is charged with ordering thousands of people killed during World War II. He faces a maximum penalty of death by firing squad if convicted in the trial, which is expected to last the rest of the month.

He was flown here Feb. 12 from the United States, where he had lived nearly 40 years. U.S. courts had ruled that he entered the country under a false identity.

Law Let Him Stay in U.S.

Artukovic had avoided extradition for years because of a law permitting people to remain in the United States if they might be persecuted in their native countries for their political beliefs. The law was amended in the late 1970s to allow extradition of people accused of persecuting others.

Prosecutor Ivanka Pintar-Gajer told the court today: “The accused’s crime, both in scale and in gravity, places Andrija Artukovic in the ranks of the greatest and most notorious war criminals, whom mankind has condemned in trials at Nuremberg and elsewhere.”

She did not say what penalty she would ask. In Yugoslav courts, the prosecution usually makes that request in its summation.

The indictment, summarizing eyewitness accounts and documents, accused Artukovic of ordering the murders of an unspecified number of Jews, Gypsies, Serbs and political prisoners. As interior minister of Croatia, he was in charge of police and concentration camps.

16 Reporters in Courtroom

Yugoslav authorities have repeatedly accused Artukovic of responsibility for at least 700,000 deaths. A preliminary indictment mentioned 231,000.

Only 16 foreign reporters were allowed into the courtroom. Others watching on television monitors saw Artukovic, his mouth agape, nod his head with eyes closed as the indictment was read.

He jerked several times as if awakening from a doze. At one point, defense attorney Srdjan Popovic shouted to an attending nurse: “Let him listen to the indictment! Don’t let him fall asleep!”

The defense contended in pretrial statements that Artukovic was in no condition to stand trial, but state psychiatrists found him fit.