Zentai to be extradited

From: The Australian : "'War criminal' to be extradited :By Paige Taylor :05-07-2005...


CANBERRA is expected to authorise extradition proceedings against accused war criminal Charles Zentai this week.

Mr Zentai, a former warrant officer in the Hungarian army, is wanted for the murder of Jewish teenager Peter Balazs in Budapest in November 1944.

... Zentai's lawyer Michael Bowden said he expected Senator Ellison to sign off on the request on Friday.

Australia has never extradited an alleged war criminal. Alleged Nazi Konrad Kalejs died aged 88 in a Melbourne nursing home in 2001 while fighting extradition to Latvia.

....Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre welcomed news of the impending decision.
"We are very hopeful that this time it will result in an extradition and a trial in Europe," Dr Zuroff said. "The most important thing now is that ... the defendant is not allowed to abuse the process. My feeling now is that Zentai will do his best to appear as ill, frail and unfortunate as possible. "This is a syndrome that we refer to as Wiesenthal-itis or Zuroff-itis. It happens in every case like this."

.....If the minister signs the receipt of request for Mr Zentai, Australian Federal Police officers will charge him and he will be required to appear before a magistrate and apply for bail.
The magistrate will also determine if Mr Zentai should be extradited to face trial in Budapest. However, Senator Ellison will have the final say on whether Mr Zentai is made to return to his homeland.