PERTH, Australia (AFP) — An 86-year-old alleged war criminal accused of murdering a young Jewish man in World War II lost a court battle Wednesday against extradition from Australia to Hungary.
A Perth magistrate ordered Charles Zentai be taken into custody after finding that he was eligible for extradition, but he was later granted bail by a Federal Court judge after his lawyers lodged an appeal.
Zentai is accused of beating to death teenager Peter Balazs in 1944 in Budapest while serving as a soldier in the army of his native Hungary, then allied with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.
"I determine that Mr Zentai is eligible for surrender to the Republic of Hungary and therefore he is remanded in custody," said magistrate Barbara Lane.
Zentai's lawyers took the case to the Federal Court, where judge Neil McKerracher allowed bail of 50,000 dollars (43,000 US). Zentai was expected to be released from Perth's Hakea prison later in the day.
The judge heard that Zentai's health was poor, but said that apart from medical reasons, he was granting bail because Zentai had been "exemplary" in the way he had handled his bail conditions since his arrest in 2005.
The allegations against Zentai, which he denies, have been brought by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Jewish human rights organisation known for tracking down alleged Nazi war criminals.
Zentai, who had migrated to Australia after the war, was living quietly in the western Australian city of Perth before the Hungarian government began extradition proceedings in March 2005.
Prosecutor Michael Corboy told the court that Zentai recognised Balazs, 18, who was not wearing the compulsory yellow star identifying him as a Jew, as someone from his home town.
Zentai and two accomplices took Balazs to a military base and assaulted him from three o'clock in the afternoon until the evening before throwing his body into the Danube river, Corboy said.
Zentai's son, Ernie Steiner, issued a statement saying his father was innocent and had not been in Budapest on the day of Balazs' death in November 1944.
Steiner said his father was never a Nazi, detested the German occupation of Hungary and had many Jewish friends.
If Zentai is sent back to Europe, he would be the first Australian to ever be extradited over alleged war crimes.
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