For four and a half years, an increasingly frail octogenarian has used a walking stick to help get him to courts and stave off his extradition to face a war crime charge in Hungary.

Charles Zentai, 88, affectionately known as Charlie to his friends, has quietly gone about his life in the leafy, middle-class suburb of Willeton, in Perth's south, since he and his wife and two of his children arrived in Australia as World War II refugees in 1951.

He anglicised his Hungarian name from Karoly to Charles on his arrival and he and his wife had another two children after arriving in Australia.

He found work as a mental health nurse, then turned his hand to poultry farming before setting up a newsagency.

It was later revealed Zentai had listed his occupation as a chauffeur on his papers, failing to notify authorities he had served in the German-allied Hungarian army, which would have disqualified him from entry to Australia.

By 2005, the mild-mannered immigrant had become a target of international attention.

Hungary requested his extradition following claims by the Jewish human rights group The Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

The centre lists Zentai among its top 10 wanted Nazi war criminals.

It alleges he was one of three men who abducted and brutally murdered Jewish teenager Peter Balazs in Budapest in November 8, 1944, after the youngster failed to wear a yellow star to identify himself as a Jew.

Mr Balazs' body was weighted down and thrown in the Danube River, it says.

Zentai has steadfastly denied the allegations.

He claims he left Budapest the day before Mr Balazs was murdered.

Since the allegations surfaced, Zentai, supported by his family, has used every legal avenue available to avoid his extradition.

On Thursday, his latest appeal - hinging on a legal argument that under a treaty between Australia and Hungary, the alleged act was not an offence when it was supposedly committed - was dismissed by the full bench of the Federal Court.

He is now down to his last legal option: to seek leave to appeal in the High Court of Australia on the same grounds.

The final decision on his extradition has been delegated to the Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor by the Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

Submissions have already been invited, and a spokesman for Mr O'Connor said the decision would be dealt with expeditiously if Zentai decided to seek leave in the High Court.

Zentai's son, Ernie Steiner, who has championed his father's cause, says the cost of a High Court appeal may prevent his last legal option.

"There is a hesitation, the cost is a factor, but we'll do what needs to be done," Mr Steiner said after the judgment was handed down on Thursday.

The pensioner's life savings have been whittled away, with his legal bill topping $200,000.

For someone suffering a number of heart conditions, it must be difficult to put a price on the stress on his health.

Zentai has already lost one High Court appeal.

Last year, he joined forces with Larry Williams, the father of Hollywood actress Michelle Williams, and Irishman Vincent Thomas O'Donogue in unsuccessfully appealing a Federal Court decision on Australia's extradition laws, claiming they were constitutionally unsound.

Mr Steiner backs his father's claims he was not in Budapest at the time of Balazs' murder and says a letter from Hungary's military court is proof there are no current proceedings against his father, who is simply wanted for questioning.

It is essentially his father's word against other former soldiers who have made statements about Zentai's alleged involvement in Mr Balazs' murder.

Mr Steiner says he has read through the statements made to the Hungarian people's court, which he says stem from a corrupt system.

"It all came from former army colleagues who were trying to save their own lives," Mr Steiner said.

"Obviously, I am very concerned for my father, and I've had to ask him some very direct questions, and I'm convinced through my own family history, statements he made in 1994 when my mother was still alive about the date of his departure from Budapest, he wasn't even there.

"So this is really a travesty, this whole thing.

"It's just so unfair that it's come this far."

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre's chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff has a very different point of view.

Dr Zuroff says it is Mr Balazs' family who have suffered injustice.

He has long been critical of the procedures and delays surrounding Zentai's extradition.

"I'm hopeful that these technical delays that have absolutely nothing to do with the serious accusations against Zentai will come to an end as quickly as possible and justice can finally be achieved at long last," Dr Zuroff said from Jerusalem after the latest judgment.

"That is the minimum that the Balazs family deserves, and that should be a primary consideration of the Australian authorities."

Zentai's age and frailty should not be a consideration, Dr Zuroff says.

"In this case, and others like it, it's important to keep in mind that the suspect may be elderly now but when he was in the prime of his life ... he devoted his strength and energies to the commission of a most heinous crime," he said.

Suggestions by Mr Steiner that his father would not receive a fair trial in Hungary are "absurd", Dr Zuroff says.

Hungary was no longer a Stalinist country and had joined the UN and NATO.

It is Dr Zuroff's hope that on October 15, Zentai will be taken into custody and the Australian government will finally make a decision on the matter.

"It's really, in respect, the last chance that Australia will have to successfully take legal action against a single Nazi war criminal," Dr Zuroff said.

"I think this is really an important moment, an important moment for justice, for the victims of such crimes, and I only hope that the right decisions can be made.

"If that's the case then hats off to Australia and hats off to Hungary for seeking the extradition.

"We await the trial."

Peter Balazs' brother, who lives in Hungary and provided much of the evidence that led to Zentai's arrest, is eagerly awaiting that trial, Dr Zuroff said.

He said the charges against Zentai were serious and the evidence strong.

After issuing a warrant for his arrest, the Hungarian government does not simply want to question Zentai, as his son claims, Dr Zuroff said.

They had a solid case against him, which had prompted its extradition request.

"It's not a personal vendetta against Zentai," Dr Zuroff said.

Mr Steiner has previously said a trip to Hungary to face trial would kill his father.

Zentai has been bailed until October 15. He must return to the Federal Court on that date, when, by law, he is required to be remanded in custody, pending a decision on his extradition if he does not appeal to the High Court.

If Zentai is extradited, it will be the first time an Australian has faced a court charged with Nazi war crimes.

In 2001, Konrad Kalejs died before he could be extradited to face a trial over his alleged crimes.

watoday.com.au