The Simon Wiesenthal Center today welcomed the rejection by the Federal Court of Australia of a legal challenge mounted by “Operation: Last Chance” suspect Charles Zentai to the authority of magistrates in Western Australia to hear his appeal against his pending extradition to Hungary to stand trial for crimes he committed during the Holocaust.
In a statement issued in Jerusalem, the Center’s chief Nazi–hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, said that the decision of the Federal Court was correct and prevented the abuse of the Australian legal system by a lawyer intent on preventing the just prosecution of his client at any cost.
According to Zuroff:
“The legal challenge mounted on Zentai’s behalf was purely technical and had no connection to the heinous crimes he is accused of committing. We no doubt will soon see additional irrelevant attempts by the defendant to convince the authorities not to send him back to the scene of his crimes, but in this regard it is extremely important to remember two principles:
- The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrator.
- The fact that a person escaped justice for decades does not turn a murderer into an innocent person.
“We urge the Australian authorities to do whatever possible to expedite the Zentai case and thereby help facilitate the achievement of justice while it still can be obtained.”
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