Suspected Nazi fights extradition from Australia to Hungary
Charles Zentai, 87, is listed by the US-based Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center as among its 10 most wanted Nazis, but maintains he is innocent.
The Centre claims Zentai "participated in manhunts, persecution, and murder of Jews in Budapest in 1944".
Hungary accuses him of torturing and killing 18-year-old Peter Balazs in a Budapest army barracks on Nov 8, 1944, for failing to wear a star that would identify him as a Jew. Zentai allegedly carried out the attack while serving as a soldier in the Hungarian army, then allied with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Zentai, who emigrated to Australia in 1950 from his native Hungary, denies the allegations.
In August, a Perth magistrate ruled that Zentai could be extradited to Hungary to face war crime charges. But his lawyers appealed the ruling in the Perth federal court, arguing the crime he is accused of was not an offense under Hungarian law at the time.
Zentai's lawyer, Grant Donaldson, said the charges were not valid.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The Centre claims Zentai "participated in manhunts, persecution, and murder of Jews in Budapest in 1944".
Hungary accuses him of torturing and killing 18-year-old Peter Balazs in a Budapest army barracks on Nov 8, 1944, for failing to wear a star that would identify him as a Jew. Zentai allegedly carried out the attack while serving as a soldier in the Hungarian army, then allied with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Zentai, who emigrated to Australia in 1950 from his native Hungary, denies the allegations.
In August, a Perth magistrate ruled that Zentai could be extradited to Hungary to face war crime charges. But his lawyers appealed the ruling in the Perth federal court, arguing the crime he is accused of was not an offense under Hungarian law at the time.
Zentai's lawyer, Grant Donaldson, said the charges were not valid.