On Sunday, July 15 Antun Gudelj was extradited to Croatia after five years of hiding in Australia. Gudelj was convicted for twenty years of imprisonment in 1994, but the verdict was passed in absentia since he fled the country immediately after the crime. He was accused of a triple murder and an attempted murder near Osijek in 1991. (16-JUL-07)
Written by Goran Milakovic/HRH
Sixteen years have passed since Antun Gudelj killed Josip Reihl Kir, the Head of the Police in Osijek, Goran Zobundžija, the vice-president of the Executive Board of the Osijek County Council and Milan Kneževiæ, member of the County Council. In addition, he severely wounded Milan Tubic. They were in a car on their way to negotiate peaceful conflict resolution with the Serb rebels in Tenja, near Osijek.
Gudelj was convicted for twenty years of imprisonment in 1994, but the verdict was passed in absentia since he fled the country immediately after the crime. In 1996 the German police arrested him and extradited to Croatia, but the Supreme Court stopped all criminal proceedings against him in 1997 and abolished him of crime under the General Abolition Act.
Four years after, the Constitutional Court met a complaint of Josip Reihl Kir’s widow, Jadranka Reihl Kir, and overruled the abolition granted by the Supreme Court.
After five years of hiding, Gudelj has been arrested in Sydney last year on the basis of Croatian request for extradition. Third trial should start in autumn this year.
