Sretko Kalinic, member of the Zemun criminal group, was extradited to Serbia early on Wednesday and placed in a prison unit of the Belgrade Special Court.

Kalinic is the first Croatia citizen extradited to Serbia after the signing of the interstate extradition agreement.

Kalinic was transferred from a Zagreb prison in Dubrava to Belgrade by Serbian government's plane and the extradition operation was carried out by the antiterrorist unit of the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP).

In absence, Kalinic was tried and sentenced in Serbia to 30 years in prison for the participation in the assassination of Serbia's former prime minister Zoran Djindjic, and to another 40 years of imprisonment for 19 other murders, 3 abductions and 2 terrorist actions.

“MUP expects Kalinic's statement to help shed light on a series of other criminal acts which came up in the previous period,” Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told Tanjug, and specified that the said crimes include 10-20 murders which Kalinic mentioned in his statements for the Croatian investigative bodies.

Serbian Justice Ministry State Secretary Slobodan Homen told Tanjug that Kalinic has been placed in a prison unit of the Belgrade Special Court.

Kalinic, who was born in Zadar, south Croatia, in 1974 and holds both Serbian and Croatian citizenship, is known as the most brutal murderer of the Zemun criminal group, which he joined after meeting Dusan Spasojevic and Mile Lukovic, the late leaders of the group, during the armed conflicts in Kosovo-Metohija in 1999.

After being at large for several years, ever since the assassination of prime minister Djindjic on March 12, 2003, Kalinic was captured in Zagreb on June 8, when he was shot by Milos Simovic, another member of the Zemun group.

On Tuesday, Kalinic was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment for passport falsification.