FED:Zentai war crime case goes to High Court

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2011
FED:Zentai war crime case goes to High Court

CANBERRA, Dec 6 AAP - The High Court will determine whether an elderly Perth man can
be extradited to Hungary to face questioning over Holocaust-related war crimes.

Charles Zentai denies accusations he murdered a 18-year-old Jewish man in November
1944 while serving in the Hungarian Army.

Mr Zentai allegedly beat the man to death and threw his body in the Danube River.

He was arrested by Australian Federal Police in 2005 to face extradition proceedings.

The government approved Mr Zentai's extradition to Hungary in November 2009, but the
decision was overturned on appeal in the Federal Court in August.

Now the Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor has been granted leave to appeal the
decision to the High Court.

The Federal Court found that the offence of "war crime" did not exist in Hungarian
law in November 1944, and as a result Mr O'Connor was not able to approve Mr Zentai's
extradition.

The High Court will determine whether the extradition treaty between Australia and
Hungary operates only where the actual offence was an offence at the time it was alleged
to have occurred.

It also will determine whether Mr Zentai's conduct constituted an offence at the time
the incident occurred.

Mr Zentai is on bail pending the High Court's decision.

AAP rl/afr/jmt

KEYWORD: LEGAL: ZENTAI

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