Croatian Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic said on Tuesday that Sretko Kalinic, who was earlier in the day sentenced by the Zagreb Municipal Court to one and a half years in prison for possession of two fake Croatian passports, would be extradited to Serbia "as quickly as possible".
Responding to questions from reporters who were standing outside the government's main office in Zagreb as to when Kalinic's extradition could be expected, Bosnjakovic, who was entering the building, said that this would be done "as quickly as possible".
The minister made no further comment.
The Zagreb County Court explained that immediately after Bosnjakovic signed the decision of the transfer of Kalinic to Serbia last week, there were no longer any obstacles to the extradition of the notorious member of the so-called Zemun mob clan to Belgrade.
In Serbia Kalinic was sentenced in his absence to 30 years in prison for involvement in the 2003 murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and to another 40 years in prison for involvement in a number of other murders, kidnappings and other serious crimes.
Some Serbian and Croatian media speculate that Kalinic, who holds both Croatian and Serbian citizenship, could be transferred from Zagreb to Belgrade by plane on Wednesday.
He will be the first Croatian national to be extradited to another country.
Extraditions of Croatian nationals in the past were connected only with the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal (ICTY).
