SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- An alleged Nazi war criminal living
in Australia was taken into police custody.
Charles (Karoly) Zentai, 88, was arrested Thursday by police in Perth following
the expiration of a two-week stay granted by the Federal
Court.
The federal government will decide
whether or not to uphold the court’s view that Zentai is
eligible for extradition to his native Hungary.
Zentai is accused of helping murder
an 18-year-old Jewish boy, Peter Balasz, in Budapest in November
1944 for allegedly not wearing the mandatory yellow Star
of David.
Zentai has vehemently denied the charges,
claiming he left the Hungarian capital the day before Balasz's
death, since an arrest warrant was issued in 2005 after he
was flushed out by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Operation
Last Chance.
The center’s Jerusalem director, Ephraim
Zuroff, has led the campaign against Zentai, whom he accuses
of trying to elude justice.
“In a case like this when the person
is not young, every day that goes by only brings that person
a day closer to eluding justice," Zuroff told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
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