Wiesenthal Center Calls for Prosecution of Croatian Nazi War Criminals Ivo Rojnica and Milivoj Ašner at Zagreb Conference on Anti-Semitism

June 22, 2006

Wiesenthal Center Calls for Prosecution of Croatian Nazi War Criminals Ivo Rojnica and Milivoj Ašner at Zagreb Conference on Anti-Semitism

Zagreb ­ The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged the Croatian government to complete the investigation of suspected Nazi war criminal Ivo Rojnica and expedite the extradition from Austria of “Operation: Last Chance” suspect, Milivoj Ašner, both of whom were Ustasha operatives who played an active role in the persecution and murder of civilians in Croatia during World War II.

Speaking at a special conference convened by the leaders of the Zagreb Jewish community in the wake of several recent anti-Semitic incidents, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, called upon the Croatian judicial authorities to maximize the efforts to prosecute the two Ustasha officials who were actively involved in the measures taken against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the area of Dubrovnik (Rojnica) and Požega (Ašner).

According to Zuroff:

“The crimes committed by the Ustasha continue to cast a dark shadow over Croatia and to influence interethnic relations. One of the most effective means of honestly facing the past is by prosecuting those responsible for the crimes of the Holocaust and therefore it is particularly critical that Rojnica and Ašner be brought to trial, while justice can still be achieved.”

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