Hundreds rally in Novi Sad, Belgrade after Hungarian court clears Sandor Kepiro
of involvement in January 1942 massacre of more than 1,000
civilians due to lack of evidence. 'Verdict was a disgraceful
decision, shameful for survivors, victims and mankind'
Hundreds of Serbs and Jews rallied on Sunday in Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest
city, and in the capital Belgrade against
the acquittal of a Hungarian man suspected
of involvement in a World War II massacre.
"We
are hoping for the day when we will be able
to say Sandor Kepiro is guilty. He is guilty," Aleksandar Veljic of the Association for the Remembrance of Holocaust told the
rally in Novi Sad 80 kilometers (50 miles)
north of Belgrade
A Hungarian court last week cleared Kepiro, 97, of involvement in the January
1942 Novi Sad massacre of more than 1,000
civilians, mainly Serbs and Jews, due to lack
of evidence. The verdict is subject to appeal.
"This
verdict was a disgraceful decision, shameful
for survivors, victims and mankind," Veljic said.
Kepiro,
a Hungarian national, served as a gendarme
during the war, when parts of Serbia were
occupied by troops from Hungary, then allied
with Nazi Germany. The Novi Sad massacre was
ordered in retaliation for attacks by communist
partisans.
Kepiro
was accused of being involved in a series
of events in which people were rounded up
and sent to their deaths before a firing squad
or were pushed under the ice of the Danube
river.
'Rounded
up people and killed them all'
Kepiro was also charged with being a member
of a squad that murdered people in their homes.
"No
one knew what they were preparing, they just
rounded up peaceful people from their homes
and killed them all," said Ljubisa Lekic, 87, who lost her father and two uncles in the atrocities.
Kepiro
lived in Argentina from 1948 to 1996. He was
spotted in 2006 in Budapest by the Nazi-hunting
Simon Wiesenthal Center, which informed Hungarian
authorities.
As many
as 1.7 million people died in former Yugoslavia
during World War II, mainly Serbs, Jews and
Roma, but also other nationalities, many in
death camps.
Serbian authorities, including the country's top war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir
Vukcevic, who helped bring the case against
Kepiro in 2008, said they were disappointed
by the verdict.
Belgrade
has also sought to try Kepiro for war crimes,
but his extradition was put on hold due to
the trial in Hungary.
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