Australian High Court To Hear Appeal On Hungarian WWII War Crime Suspect's Extradition
- 30 Mar 2012 9:00 AM
"The Australian High Court met on Wednesday to consider an appeal of a Federal Court ruling against the extradition of Hungarian war crimes suspect Charles Zentai. Zentai is accused of murdering 18-year-old Jew Péter Balázs in Budapest when Zentai served in the Hungarian army in 1944.
Zentai denies the accusation that he and another man beat Balázs to death and then threw his body into the Danube.
The Australian government approved Zentai's extradition to Hungary in November, 2009 but Zentai, now 90, filed an appeal.
The Federal Court upheld his argument that the concept of war crime did not exist in Hungarian law in 1944.
In appealing that decision, the Australian government states that Hungarian law did recognise the crime of murder in 1944.
A final ruling is not expected for several months."
Source: Hungary Around the Clock
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