May 6, 1951

EXILE DENIES TITO CHARGE

Artukovich Says Extradition Is Sought as Anti-Communist

LOS ANGELES, May 6 (U.P.) - Andrea Artukovich, former Cabinet minister of a Nazi-dominated Croatian puppet government, today denied Yugoslav charges he was "one of the worst of war criminals."

M. Artukovich, found last week working as a $100-a-week bookkeeper in his brother's construction concern here, said he was sought by Marshal Tito's Government because he was an anti-Communist and partly because of the age-old conflict between the Serbs and the Croats.

Yugoslavia has charged him with being the right-hand man of Croatian Government leader Ante Pavelic, who was alleged to have ordered the slaughter of 1,000,000 Jews and Serbs under the direction of Hitler.

"At no time in any of the positions which I held did I have jurisdiction over the secret police, Ustaska Nadzorna Sluzba," M. Artukovich said, "and I never signed any death warrants."

M. Artukovich will appear before immigration officers tomorrow in an attempt to obtain a permanent resident's permit. He is living with his wife and four children in a seaside colony near here.