A Dutch citizen, who has been convicted in absentia of war crimes committed in the Gospic area of central Croatia in 1991, has been extradited to Zagreb, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday.

Milorad Barac (53) was handed over to Croatia from Amsterdam at 2.45pm on Wednesday without incident, following an arrest warrant issued by Karlovac County Court in 2017.

In 1994, Gospic County Court found him guilty of war crimes committed against civilians in Siroka Kula in September and October 1991.

According to the ruling, Barac, a member of Serb paramilitary forces, fired an incendiary rifle grenade at a house in the basement of which civilians were sheltering, setting it on fire. He then fired at the civilians, killing eight of them, including seven women.

Barac was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison along with three other defendants in this case, while another three were given prison terms of 20 years.

Serb insurgents killed 33 Croat residents of Siroka Kula, 11 kilometres northeast of Gospic, on 13 October 1991. The victims were mainly the elderly, women and children; the youngest victim was 13 years old and the oldest 95. Seven Croats from the nearby villages of Licki Osik, Ostrvica and Musaluk were also killed then.