The family of French volunteer fighter Jean-Michel Nicolier, who was killed after being captured during the 1991 siege of Vukovar, has formally demanded that Serbia extradite a man suspected of involvement in his death and pay 200,000 euros ($216,000) in damages, Croatian media reported on Wednesday.
Nicolier, a French national who fought on the Croatian side during the war following the breakup of Yugoslavia, was taken from Vukovar hospital and killed at the Ovčara farm, where dozens of prisoners were executed in November 1991.
In a formal notice sent via the Serbian embassy in Paris, Nicolier’s mother, Lyliane Fournier, and his brother, Paul, requested that Serbian authorities provide accurate information on the whereabouts of Spasoje Petković, whom they suspect of involvement in the killing, and extradite him to an investigating judge handling a case before a court in Paris.
The family is also seeking 200,000 euros in compensation for what they described as moral, material and psychological damages, according to the notice signed by their lawyer in France, Ghislain Dubois.
It was not immediately clear whether Serbian authorities had responded to the request. Serbia has previously prosecuted several individuals over crimes committed at Ovčara, one of the most notorious atrocities of the Croatian war.
The executions at Ovčara took place after the fall of Vukovar to Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) forces and associated Serbian paramilitaries. The killings have been the subject of domestic and international war crimes trials over the past three decades.