Ex-Croatian spy chief ordered to stand trial in Germany

(BERLIN) - Croatia's former top spy, Josip Perkovic, was on Tuesday ordered to stand trial in Germany in a murder case which sparked a row between the European Union and its newest member.

Perkovic, 69, was arrested in January after Croatia lifted a limitation on extraditions within the EU which it had imposed just days before joining the bloc in July.

The former Yugoslav secret service agent will go on trial for involvement in the murder of a Croatian dissident on German soil in 1983, prosecutors said in a statement.

Perkovic has denied any links to the murder of Stjepan Djurekovic, who was opposed to Yugoslavia's then communist regime.

Three days before joining the EU on July 1 last year, Croatia changed its law on the use of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which regulates extradition between EU member states.

The law made it impossible to extradite persons wanted for crimes committed before August 2002 -- the date the EAW was introduced.

The move soured ties with the bloc and Zagreb finally amended the law in October.

Zdravko Mustac, another former spy chief also accused of involvement in the Djurekovic murder, was extradited to Germany in April.

Local media have speculated that Zagreb was reluctant to extradite the two former top spies as they may hold compromising information on influential people in Croatia.

But the government has denied this, saying its aim was to protect veterans of the 1990s independence war from being investigated by the EU.