Suspected war criminal's conviction not upheld

The 1944 conviction and sentencing of a Hungarian man suspected of war crimes committed during World War II cannot be enforced, a court said Thursday, announcing a ruling it made earlier this month. Sandor Kepiro, 93, was identified by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as having been convicted twice in Hungarian courts, in 1944 and 1946, but never punished for his alleged role in killings committed by Hungarian forces in Novi Sad, Serbia, after they entered the region in the wake of the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia during World War II. The Budapest Municipal Court issued a statement saying the ruling by a Hungarian military court which sentenced Kepiro to 10 years in 1944 cannot be enforced. The court said the ruling was made on February 19, and was made public on Thursday. It can be appealed within eight days, the court said.