Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed deep satisfaction in the wake of the rejection today by the Australian Supreme Court of a legal challenge mounted by suspected Hungarian Nazi war criminal Charles Zentai to prevent his extradition to stand trial in Budapest for his crimes during World War II. (Zentai, together with a suspect wanted for fraud in Ireland, had claimed that the courts in Perth did not have the jurisdiction to rule in his extradition case, a technical argument which hereto had delayed his extradition to Hungary for more than two years.)
In a statement issued today by its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center called upon the Australian authorities to expedite the extradition process to help ensure that justice is achieved, and warned that Zentai’s supporters would make every effort to present him as unable to stand trial even if this was not necessarily the case.
According to Zuroff:
“In these circumstances, it is important to remember that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators and that suspected killers should not be ignored simply because they have hereto eluded justice. The families of the victims are the ones who deserve our sympathy, not those who committed murder, and in this regard it is illuminating that it was Adam Balasz, the brother of Zentai’s alleged victim, Peter Balasz, who submitted the evidence to the Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem shortly after “Operation: Last Chance” was launched in Hungary, with a request that we try to track down and bring his brother’s murderer to justice.”
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