Serbia’s Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin has blasted the conviction on war crimes charges of a former Serb paramilitary commander and Australian citizen as a “mockery of truth”.

Mr Vulin accused Croatia of fuelling tensions in the Balkans with the conviction of Dragan Vasiljkovic, who was sentenced to 15 years jail on Tuesday.

Camera Icon Dragan Vasiljkovic worked as a golf instructor in Perth. Credit: WA News

Vasiljkovic, also known as Captain Dragan and Daniel Snedden, was working in Perth as a golf instructor when he was arrested in 2006. He fought and lost a 10-year battle against extradition to face the charges in Croatia, which related to the killing and torture of prisoners in the 1991-95 Balkans war, as Croatia fought to secede from Yugoslavia.

He was Australia’s first extradited war crimes suspect.

Judges at a municipal court in the coastal town of Split found Vasiljkovic guilty but ruled that they would take into account the time Vasiljkovic served in detention in Australia and in a Croatian prison, meaning he has 31/2 years of his sentence remaining.

Camera Icon Vasiljkovic in Croatia with Vojislav Seselj who was extradited to The Hague for war crimes. Credit: Supplied by Subject

His lawyers said they will appeal against the sentence.

The 62-year-old Vasiljkovic, who was born in Serbia, went to Australia as a teenager but returned to the Balkans to train Croatian Serb rebels in 1991.

Vasiljkovic denied the charges against him, claiming they were made up.

He was extradited in July 2015.

Camera Icon Dragan Vasilykovic aka Daniel Snedden at the Serbian Community Centre in Kenwick where he worked as a golf instructor. Credit: WA News

The three-judge Croatian court panel found Vasiljkovic guilty of two of three charges, which included torturing and beating imprisoned Croatian police and army troops and commanding a special forces unit involved in the destruction of Croatian villages.

He was found responsible for the death of at least two civilians.

“They were beating prisoners with their guns ... pushing gun barrels into their mouths,” Judge Damir Romac said. “He (Vasiljkovic) did nothing to prevent this and punish the perpetrators.”

About 60 prosecution witnesses were questioned during the trial, including those people who said they were tortured by Vasiljkovic.

Vasiljkovic was widely believed during the war to be working for Serbia’s secret service.

“This is an oppressive fascist process,” he said during his closing statements last week. “Not only did I not commit any crimes that I am charged with, I can only ask why I was brought here and charged in the first place.”