ne authorities to arrest Sakic. He has lived in Argentina for the past 50 years but his current whereabouts are unknown. Zagreb said it was ready to try Sakic after he gave an interview to Argentine television earlier this month, in which he spoke of his time as commander of Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia from 1942 to 1944. Croatia was then under the Fascist rule of the Ustashe regime and Jasenovac became known as the Auschwitz of the Balkans. The number of prisoners who died there - Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats - remains disputed, varying from 85,000 according to independent Croatian estimates to 700,000 according to Serbian accounts. The Simon Wiesenthal centre, which hunts Nazi war criminals, demanded Sakic be tried immediately after the interview and Argentine President Carlos Menem asked for him to be arrested. The Croatian Justice Ministry said on Friday the request was filed after a preliminary investigation indicated Sakic may have committed "crimes against humanity and international law". A Yugoslav investigative commission proclaimed Sakic a war criminal in 1946 but he was never formally charged. In order to form a case against him the Croatian authorities had to collect enough evidence. Croatia, which gained independence from federal Yugoslavia in 1991, has often been criticised for an ambiguous stance towards its fascist past and analysts say the trial could help it shake off that historic burden. Yugoslavia, which now comprises Serbia and Montenegro, said last week it would compete with Croatia to extradite Sakic, saying he was a Yugoslav citizen when he commanded the camp.