Alleged Nazi moves closer to extradition from Australia

Charles Zentai suspected of murdering Peter Balazs, 18, in Budapest in 1944 for failing to wear a yellow star identifying him as a Jew.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Australia's second highest court on Monday rejected an elderly man's challenge to his extradition to Hungary where he is accused of torturing and slaying a Jewish teenager during World War II. Charles Zentai, an 84-year-old Hungarian-born Australian citizen, has been under investigation by Hungary's Foreign Ministry since December 2004 on suspicion of murdering Peter Balazs, 18, in Budapest in 1944 for failing to wear a yellow star identifying him as a Jew. Zentai, who was allegedly a soldier in 1944, had challenged in the Full-Bench of the Federal Court a magistrate's jurisdiction to hear Hungary's extradition application. With his loss Monday, Zentai will face an extradition hearing soon in his west coast hometown of Perth unless he lodges an appeal with the High Court of Australia. The three full-bench judges upheld a ruling by a single Federal Court judge in September last year. Zentai, who has publicly denied being a war criminal, did not attend court Monday to hear the decision.