ACCUSED war criminal Charles Zentai has vowed to continue his fight against extradition to Hungary to face a 65-year-old murder charge, as chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff described his tactics as a ``mockery of justice''.
Dismissing the 87-year-old's appeal against an earlier ruling, Federal Court judge John Gilmour found yesterday there was no reason why Mr Zentai was not eligible to be extradited to face allegations he took part in the fatal bashing of a Jew in 1944.
The frail Perth great-grandfather was spared a stint in jail after Justice Gilmour granted Mr Zentai's legal team a seven-day stay to consider an appeal.
But Justice Gilmour warned that if an appeal were mounted, medical evidence detailing Mr Zentai's heart condition would need to be presented to support a bail application.
Dr Zuroff, from the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, described the possibility of yet another appeal as a ``mockery of justice''.
``The system is giving him every opportunity to elude justice and that's what's so sad here,'' he said.
Mr Zentai denies he participated in the fatal bashing of 18-year-old Peter Balazs in Budapest in 1944.
Balazs was allegedly targeted because he was not wearing the yellow star Jews were forced to display under the Nazi regime.
Dr Zuroff said Mr Zentai's actions were those of someone who was guilty, not innocent, and it was time Balazs was granted justice.
Mr Zentai is alleged to have taken part in the bashing while a warrant officer in the Hitler-aligned Royal Hungarian Army.
Outside a Perth court yesterday, Mr Zentai's son Ernie Steiner said his family was disappointed by the outcome but still hopeful.
``My father has the right of appeal before the Federal Court,'' he said.
``If there's an appeal reason that's worthy, they will make that appeal,'' he said.
``It's not over by a long shot because we also have rights to appeal to the Attorney-General and Minister for Home Affairs.''
Ministerial discretion will ultimately determine whether Mr Zentai is surrendered to Hungary.
Earlier this month, when the appeal was heard, Mr Zentai's legal team argued that the extradition could not proceed because the charge he is facing was not an offence at the time it was allegedly committed.
It was argued that under an extradition treaty between Hungary and Australia, the law could not be applied retrospectively.
But Justice Gilmour said in his decision that Mr Zentai was eligible for surrender because the alleged war crime constituted an extraditable offence.
Mr Steiner said his family had no confidence in the Hungarian justice system and this had been confirmed recently when the Hungarian Military Court failed to answer 19 of their questions relating to court procedures and Mr Zentai's case.
But Dr Zuroff said it was ridiculous to claim that Hungary was corrupt when it was a member of the European Union and NATO.