May 24, 1951

TITO ASKS PERON TO YIELD PAVELIC

Yugoslav Note Also Requests Other Ustashis
Residing in Argentina Be Extradited

Special to the New York Times

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, May 23 - The Press Directorate announced tonight that the Foreign Ministry had sent a note to the Argentine Government on May 19 requesting the extradition of Ante Pavelic and other Ustashi war criminals who are now residing in Argentina.

Pavelic, who occupied the position of Poglavnik or chief of the Nazi and Italian Fascist puppet state of Croatia during the last war, is hel responsible for the mass murder of 800,000 Serbs, Croats and Jews by Ustashis.

The note to the Peron Government followed a similar note to the United States Government requesting the extradition of Andrea Artukovic, who served as Minister of Interior under Pavelic and who in the Yugoslav view shared the responsibility for the mass exterminations in Croatia. United States immigration authorities picked up Artukovic in Los Angeles and released him on bail pending an investigation.

Anti-Tito "Government" Set Up

In its note to the Argentine Government, the Foreign Ministry said that Pavelic and his associates had set up a "government" in Buenos Aires whose activities were directed against the present Yugoslav state. The note added that these men were publishing several newspapers and were enjoying the protection and patronage of the Argentine Government.

The Yugoslav note charged the Argentine Government with giving official employment to many notorious Ustashis and cited the case of Ivan Herenic, Ustashi police chief of Croatia and now employed in the Ministry of Public Works at Buenos Aires under the name Juan Horvat. The note also mentioned the case of Josip Balen, former Ustashi Minister who is now employed by the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture under the name Ivan Barac.

Asylum Right Not Contested

The Tito Government's not asserted the the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs had made an arrangement with the "commissariat of the Ustashi Franciscans" in Buenos Aires whereby the Ustashis could obtain legal status. According to the notes, this commissariat is authorized to issue certificates of birth and marriage and other legal documents to Nstashi [sic] emigres that are accepted by Argentine authorities.

The note said the Yugoslav Government did not contest the right of any state to grant asylum to political emigres, but in the case of the Ustashis the issue involved war criminals who were plotting openly against Yugoslavia.

The note concluded with the statement that the Yugoslav Government expected the Argentine Government to take immediate steps to end the activities of the Ustashis against Yugoslavia and advised the Argentine Government that the extradition of the Ustashis was being requested.