Croatia asks Israel to extradite suspected supporter of war crimes fugitive

Croatia has asked Israel to extradite tycoon Hrvoje Petrac, who was found guilty in a kidnapping case and is a suspected supporter of a fugitive general wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal, the Croatian president said Saturday.

"We have confirmation that his (Petrac) whereabouts were traced in Israel and we have taken measures to have him transfered to Croatia," Stipe Mesic told journalists.

The Croatian government has identified Petrac as a key assistant to fugitive general Ante Gotovina, whose case has been jeopardizing the country's bid to join the European Union.

The EU refused to open membership talks with Croatia as scheduled on March 17 due to its failure to help find the 49-year-old fugitive.

A Zagreb court sentenced Petrac, who is suspected of links with organized crime, to six years in prison in absentia in February over his role in the kidnapping of a Croatian general's son.

Media reported that Petrac, who fled the country last year, found refuge in Israel where he made connections as arms dealer.

Gotovina has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for alleged war crimes against ethnic Serbs at the end of the 1991-95 Serbo-Croatian war. Zagreb has insisted it has no knowledge of his whereabouts.

Mesic recently voiced confidence that Zagreb would persuade an EU task force, which is to assess the country's cooperation, that it was fulfilling its obligations to the tribunal.

On Tuesday, EU officials are to meet in Brussels with Croatian leaders and chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte to discuss Zagreb's cooperation with the ICTY.

Croatia hopes to begin EU membership talks by the end of June and join the 25-nation bloc by the end of the decade.