Canberra's highest court blocks extradition on technicality that "war crimes" weren't codified at time of alleged murders.
CANBERRA - An alleged Nazi war criminal living in Australia
won on Wednesday a long battle against the government's attempts
to extradite him to Hungary to stand trial for the murder
of a Jewish teenager.
Charles Zentai, now 90, was accused by Hungarian authorities of beating to death
a Jewish teenager, Peter Balazs, in Budapest in 1944.
Australia's highest court ruled that
Zentai could not be extradited to the country of his birth
because the offense "war crime" did not exist in Hungarian law at the time the murder was alleged to have been
committed.
Zentai, who migrated to Australia
in 1950 and became an Australian citizen, has maintained
his innocence throughout his legal challenge.
Zentai, a 23-year-old warrant officer
in the pro-Nazi Hungarian military at the time of Balazs'
death, said he was not in Budapest when the attack took place.
A spokesperson for Jason Clare, Australian
Minister for Home Affairs, confirmed that Zentai would not
be surrendered to Hungary.
A retired mental health nurse, Zentai
was arrested by Australian police in 2005 after Hungary requested
his extradition. Australia ordered in 2009 that Zentai be
sent to Hungary, but the Federal Court overturned that ruling
in 2011.
The government contested that decision,
but Wednesday's court ruling threw out its appeal and leaves
the government with no further challenges.
Zentai's family welcomed the ruling,
but told Australian radio that they wanted the Australian
government to apologize.
"As a soldier I just had
to carry out orders ... but none of those orders I was given
had anything to do with rounding up Jews or torturing them
or anything like that," Zentai told Australian television in 2008.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center "harshly
criticized" the Australian High Court's decision and questioned the basis for the rejection
of the Hungarian extradition request.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center director
and Nazi hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff noted that "numerous Nazi war criminals had been extradited from countries of refuge to stand
trial in Germany for crimes which had not yet been categorized
as such when they were committed."
“Today’s unfortunate decision to refuse
the Hungarian extradition request appears to ignore numerous
legal precedents which in the past facilitated the prosecution
of the leaders of the Third Reich and additional Nazi war
criminals. In practical terms, it signals a dismal conclusion
to Australia’s totally unsuccessful efforts to bring to justice
any of the numerous Nazi war criminals who found refuge in
the country. Today is a sad day for Australia, and for justice,
but most of all for the Nazis’ victims, their families and
those who empathize with their suffering," Zuroff stated.
On behalf of the The Simon Wiesenthal
Center, Zuroff extended his sympathies to the family, "who tried to see justice achieved in this case, but were thwarted by the Australian
authorities.” jpost.com
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