A Perth man fighting extradition to Hungary has been named on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s list of the 10 most wanted suspected Nazis.
Charles Zentai ... is wanted in Hungary for allegedly torturing and murdering 18-year-old Jewish man Peter Balazs in Budapest during army service in World War II.
....Mr Zentai is ranked at number seven in the centre’s top 10 ... [see below]
Mr Zentai ...last week lost a constitutional challenge in Australia’s High Court against the power of state magistrates to rule on extradition matters. The ruling cleared the way for the Perth Magistrates Court to continue extradition hearings against him.
....If Mr Zentai is extradited, it would be the first time an Australian has faced a court charged with Nazi war crimes. In 2001, Konrad Kalejs died before he could be extradited from Australia to face a trial over his alleged crimes.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s list of 10 most wanted Nazis:1. Dr Aribert Heim, whereabouts unknown: Indicted in Germany on charges he murdered hundreds of inmates at Mauthausen concentration camp where he was camp doctor. Disappeared in 1962 before planned prosecution.
2. John Demjanjuk, in United States: Ukrainian immigrant alleged by US authorities to have been guard at Nazi camps. He denies that. Extradited to Israel in 1986, where he was sentenced to death for allegedly being Treblinka camp guard Ivan the Terrible. Verdict overturned in 1993 and Demjanjuk returned to America. US citizenship restored in 1998, then removed in 2002. Seeking to appeal court’s January rejection of challenge to immigration judge’s order that would send him to Germany, Poland or Ukraine.
3. Sandor Kepiro, in Hungary: Former Hungarian gendarmerie officer accused of involvement in wartime killings of more than 1000 civilians in Serbia. Convicted twice in Hungarian courts, in 1944 and 1946, but never punished. Kepiro, who moved back to Hungary in 1996 after decades in Argentina, denies accusations. Hungary reinvestigating.
4. Milivoj Asner, in Austria: Police chief in Croatia’s wartime Nazi puppet regime, he is suspected of active role in persecution and deportation to death of hundreds of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. In 2005, Croatia requested his extradition from Austria, which refused, saying he is unfit to stand trial or be questioned.
5. Soeren Kam, in Germany: Former member of SS wanted by Denmark in assassination of journalist in 1943. Extradition from Germany was blocked in 2007 by Bavarian court that found insufficient evidence for murder charges.
6. Heinrich Boere, in Germany: Admitted hit man for Waffen-SS accused of killing three Dutch civilians. Sentenced to death in absentia in 1949 in Netherlands, later commuted to life in prison. German courts refused to extradite him, then declared conviction invalid. Prosecutors in Dortmund, Germany, brought new murder charges against him this month.
Charles Zentai
7. Charles Zentai, in Australia: Former Hungarian soldier has been under investigation by Hungary’s Foreign Ministry since December 2004 on suspicion of killing Peter Balazs in Budapest in 1944 for failing to wear a yellow star identifying him as Jew. Zentai denies charge and fighting extradition.
8. Mikhail Gorshkow, in Estonia: US officials and Jewish groups accuse Gorshkow of helping kill Jews while serving as interpreter and interrogator for German Gestapo in Belarus. He returned to native Estonia in 2002 just before federal court stripped him of US citizenship for lying about his war record. Prosecutors in Estonia investigating case.
9. Algimantas Dailide, in Germany: Convicted in 2006 in Lithuania of helping round up Jews for Nazis as officer in Vilnius security police. Sentenced to five years in jail, but judge ruled he was too frail to serve sentence. He had been deported from US to Germany in 2003 for lying on immigration application. Lives in Germany, but went voluntarily to Lithuania for trial.
10. Harry Mannil, in Venezuela: Former officer in Estonia’s political police and German security forces during Nazi occupation of Estonia. US authorities investigating Mannil’s 1990s visa application concluded he took part in murder of hundreds of Jews, barring him entry. Was cleared in 2005 by Estonian investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity.
BADEN-BADENAP/AAP
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