Accused 88-year-old Nazi war criminal Charles Zentai is at
the mercy of the Federal government after turning himself
in to police to spend his first night behind bars.
Zentai was taken to Perth's Hakea prison after exhausting appeal avenues that
had kept him out of jail ahead of his possible extradition
to Hungary on war crimes charges.
He had been granted a 14-day stay
on a ruling by the full bench of the Federal Court that allowed
his extradition on a charge of killing a Jewish teenager
in Budapest in 1944.
Zentai's family and lawyers tried
to shield him from media as he surrendered, at 4.10pm (WST)
on Thursday, to authorities and would not comment on the
arrangements for his detention.
But Zentai's lawyer Denis Barich said
there would be no further legal appeals until the Home Affairs
Minister Brendon O'Connor had acted on his client's case,
as directed by Attorney-General Robert McClelland.
The attorney-general, the final arbiter
on the extradition, could not intervene in the case until
Zentai was taken into custody.
If the federal government orders his
extradition, Zentai will be able to resume the legal appeals
process, which is already believed to have cost him and his
family around $200,000.
Zentai's son Ernie Steiner, who has
acted as his father's spokesman since a warrant was issued
for his arrest in 2005, declined to answer calls on Thursday.
He issued an SMS message to media
saying he had been advised not to pass on details of Thursday's
arrangements because of his father's heart condition.
"I am sorry, but owing
to extreme media pressure aggravating my father's heart condition
yesterday, I am advised not to pass on arrangements for today," Mr Steiner told AAP.
Doctors have affirmed Zentai's poor
medical condition, which has helped keep him out of custody
since Perth magistrate Barbara Lane last year ruled he was
eligible to be surrendered for extradition to face the war
crimes charge.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General's
Department said the legality of Zentai's detention, in accordance
with Australian extradition arrangements, was upheld by the
High Court in 2006.
The court dismissed an application
by Serbian Dragan Vasiljkovic to have the Extradition Act
ruled invalid.
The spokeswoman said Zentai had until
4.30pm (WST) to surrender himself to authorities.
Mr Barich said his client had decided
not to pursue a writ of mandamus in the High Court, which
could have compelled the Attorney-General's Department to
deal with the case before he was taken into custody.
Hungarian-born Zentai, a resident
of the southern Perth suburb of Willeton, is alleged to be
one of three men who tortured Jewish teenager Peter Balazs
in Budapest in November 1944, leading to his death.
Mr Barich said Mr O'Connor and Mr
McClelland would now be able to consider his clients' submissions
under Section 22 of the Extradition Act, which set out constitutional
arguments against his extradition.
Mr Barich said the two fellow soldiers
who claimed Zentai had played a part in the attack on Balazs
had not mentioned him in their initial evidence to Hungarian
authorities.
He said this led to questions as to
whether they had been coerced, but Zentai would not be entitled
to cross-examine the men under the legal process available
to him in Hungary.
He said Hungarian authorities had
also told Mr McClelland they did not want to charge Zentai,
only to "question" him.
"There is no indictment,
no arrest warrant. He is only wanted for preliminary questioning," Mr Barich said.
"Why should he be forced
to go to Hungary, with all the danger to his health that
such a trip would bring, when he can be questioned here in
Australia?"
watoday.com.au
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