He allegedly led 13 people to their death in a Croatian vineyard. He's fighting to stay a Canadian
Alleged Serbian war criminal Goran Pavic has failed to derail the federal government’s attempt to prove he obtained Canadian citizenship by fraudulent means and that he should be deemed inadmissible to this country.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree are alleging Pavic “made false statements on his application for permanent residence, which allowed him to obtain permanent residence in Canada in 1997 and Canadian citizenship in 2002,” according to a recent Federal Court decision.
They’re also claiming Pavic “is inadmissible to Canada because he was involved in the commission of, or was complicit in, crimes against humanity committed in the village of Sotin, now in Croatia,” said the Feb. 19 decision.
“Specifically, the plaintiffs claim the defendant was involved in crimes of imprisonment, forcible transfer and murder. The factual allegations in the statement of claim concern (Pavic’s) time as part of the Serbian Territorial Defence Forces and the Sotin Police in 1991.”
In his defence, Pavic “advised that in September 1991, he was involuntarily conscripted into what became the Serbian Territorial Defence Forces and that in October 1991, was assigned to the Sotin Police. The statement of defence makes detailed pleadings, including about the defendant’s actions in 1991 and his lack of knowledge of any of the alleged crimes.”
Pavic, 60, was born in Vukovar in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, part of the former Yugoslavia, and currently the Republic of Croatia, according to the federal government’s statement of claim.
Pavic has “a Serb ethnic background,” it said.
“In response to the question: ‘in periods of either peace or war, have you ever been involved in the commission of a war crime or a crime against humanity?’ he answered ‘no,’” said the claim.
“These assertions were false. (Pavic) was a member of the Serbian Territorial Defence Forces from June 1991 until the fall of 1991, when he became a member of the Sotin Police in or about the month of October 1991. He also failed to declare that he had resided in Sotin as of about October 1991. Finally, he was involved in the commission of — or was complicit by making a voluntary, significant and knowing contribution to — crimes against humanity committed in Sotin between October 1991 and at least December 1991.”
Pavic wrote to the Serbian Prosecutor for War Crimes in December 2010 indicating “he was in Sotin during the war days and in particular in September-October 1991; everything he did was ‘on someone’s orders,’” said the federal government’s claim.
In late 2007, while he was working as a truck driver, Pavic was detained by U.S. authorities after crossing the Ambassador Bridge “based on an Interpol warrant issued by Croatia,” according to a briefing note from the Zagreb office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
“Pavic was subsequently released from detention and returned to Canada,” according to the OSCE, after a “United States federal prosecutor in Michigan cited expiration of the statute of limitations as the reason for abandoning a request to extradite Goran Pavic, a Canadian citizen of Serb national origin, to Croatia to stand trial on war crimes charges.”
In his letter to the war crimes prosecutor, Pavic complained about spending 44 days in prison, noting “it was ‘humiliating’ for him to ‘spend so many days with … all sorts of criminals.’”
Pavic told the prosecutor “he was a member of the Sotin police force during the war; he helped various people, including Croats, during the war; that, while on a search operation, he witnessed two people being executed and subsequently buried by the group of men he was with; that those who surrendered were also killed; that he brought people in ‘for interrogation’ and handed them over to the Serbian Territorial Defence; that he learned that those people were subsequently killed; and, that he was part of a group ordering Croats to appear at the local café, from which they were ‘deported’ from Croatia.”
According to the federal government’s statement of claim, “in late 1991/early 1992, Serb armed forces carried out a widespread and/or systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in the Vukovar area generally and the village of Sotin in particular.”
As a member of the Sotin police, Pavic “rounded up non-Serb persons and brought them to the Sotin police station, where they were detained and interrogated,” said the claim.
“He thereby committed or was complicit in the crime against humanity of imprisonment.”
Pavic “participated in the removal of non-Serb residents of Sotin,” said the claim. “He informed them of the time and location they were required to board buses to be removed from the village. He thereby committed or was complicit in the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.”
Pavic “alongside other members of the Sotin police and the Sotin (Territorial Defence Forces) transported 13 non-Serb detainees from the Sotin police station to a vineyard outside of the village where they were executed. He thereby committed or was complicit in the crime against humanity of murder,” said the claim.
Pavic tried unsuccessfully to convince a Federal Court judge to toss the case out recently, arguing the statute of limitations had run out because the events in question were more than six years in the past.
The federal government argued “that no limitation period applies to this action for declaratory relief in the statutory context of a revocation of citizenship under the Citizenship Act,” said the Federal Court decision.
Justice Andrew D. Little sided with Ottawa. Pavic’s motion for summary judgment “must be dismissed,” the judge wrote in his Feb. 19 decision out of Toronto.
In order to revoke his Canadian citizenship, the federal government is looking for a declaration from the court that Pavic obtained it by fraud. Same goes for his permanent resident status.
But Pavic still has refugee status here, his lawyer, Jared Will, said Friday.
“He has refugee status in addition to having permanent residence and citizenship, so further steps would have to be taken to remove him if he were to lose his citizenship and permanent residence,” Will said.
When Diab wants to revoke someone’s status based on fraud, she has to go to court unless the person in her crosshairs consents to the immigration minister making the decision on her own.
Will couldn’t predict what the likelihood is of Canada stripping his client of his citizenship. “I don’t have a crystal ball,” he said. “There’s too many variables between now and the trial. I don’t think that they have a meritorious case. Beyond that, it’s impossible for me to predict the way things are going to shake out.”
Pavic couldn’t be reached for comment.
“He’s in Canada,” Will said.
Will plans to file more preliminary motions that will need to be adjudicated. “Depending on how those are resolved, the case may or may not go to trial, but we’re still quite a long way from that point,” said the Toronto-based immigration lawyer.
Canada officially launched its case against Pavic in August 2024.
“It popped up first in 2018 and they asked for him to make submissions about the issue, which he did,” Will said. “In 2019, they advised him that they were going to proceed against him. And then they did nothing for five years…. I don’t know why they’re going after him now. All I can tell you is they have not offered any explanation for the delay.”
Will — who has represented dozens of clients accused of war crimes — said “one of the most challenging things about cases like this is when the government leaves them hanging over your head for decades at a time.”
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