Charles Zentai. Photo: AJN file

AJN STAFF

A GRANT of bail from the Federal Court has allowed accused war criminal Charles Zentai to spend Christmas with his family.

The Federal Court in Perth earlier this month ordered the 88-year-old to be released from prison, as he awaits the final decision on whether he will be extradited to Hungary to face charges over a 1944 murder.

Justice Neil McKerracher said Zentai was a low flight risk and granted bail for him, after the Commonwealth did not oppose a bail application from his lawyers.

Zentai’s legal team has successfully petitioned the Federal Court to review a decision by Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor in October, which approved a submission from the Hungarian government to extradite him to face court in Budapest.

The Perth resident is charged with involvement in the murder of Peter Balazs, a Budapest teenager, who he allegedly arrested for not wearing the mandatory yellow star.
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Charles Zentai. Photo: AJN file

PETER KOHN

WAR crimes suspect Charles Zentai has launched legal action that will delay plans to extradite him to Hungary to face charges over a World War II murder.

Lawyers for the 88-year-old have been granted a judicial review of this month’s ministerial decision that gave the green light for the Perth resident to be sent to Budapest.

A Hungarian court wants Zentai to face charges in connection with the beating and murder of Budapest teenager Peter Balazs, whose body was dumped in the Danube in 1944.

A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor told The AJN the department will delay giving effect to its extradition ruling until after the Federal Court reviews the decision. That process must begin no later than December 4.

But there is no timeframe for the review, which could overturn O’Connor’s November 12 determination.
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CARTOONIST Kron looks at the federal Government’s decision that alleged war criminal Charles Zentai can be extradited to Hungary.

CARTOONIST Kron looks at the federal Government’s decision that alleged war criminal Charles Zentai can be extradited to Hungary.

Clock ticking for Zentai

BARRING a successful final appeal against a ruling by Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor, Charles Zentai may soon be on a flight to Budapest to face charges over a war crime he allegedly committed 65 years ago.

After the ministerial decision to make him eligible for extradition, the Perth octogenarian is almost certain to face a Hungarian court over a 1944 murder. If that happens, he will be the first Australian resident extradited for war crimes.
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AJN STAFF

Charles Zentai

AFTER more than five years of court battles, the federal Government indicated late on Thursday evening that alleged war criminal Charles Zentai would be extradited to Hungary.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor, who was left with the decision whether or not to extradite, ruled Zentai, 88, would be sent to Hungary within two months.

“My decision is not one of determining Mr Zentai’s guilt or innocence,” O’Connor said. “It was about deciding whether or not Mr Zentai should be surrendered to Hungary in accordance with Australia’s extradition legislation and its international obligations. ” Read the full story

AJN STAFF

Charles Zentai

CHARLES (Karoly) Zentai, the Perth man facing charges for a Holocaust-era murder, inched closer to being extradited after losing an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court on Thursday.

Zentai, 88, is out on bail, and may still appeal his case to the High Court, after the Federal Court granted a stay of 14 days on the execution of a warrant for  his extradition.

If Zentai appeals and loses he will face charges in Budapest.

He has always denied the charges relating to the murder of Peter Balazs, a young man who was beaten and then thrown into the Danube River in Budapest in 1944.

Two other officers in the Hungarian army were convicted of their complicity in Balazs’ murder in court proceedings soon after World War II.

Since his arrest in 2005 after investigations under the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s worldwide Operation Last Chance, Zentai’s lawyers unsuccessfully argued that the Perth Magistrate’s Court had no jurisdiction to rule on extraditing him. Read the full story

AJN STAFF

Charles Zentai

PERTH man Charles (Karoly) Zentai has had his bail extended while the Federal Court weighs his appeal against extradition to Hungary to face war crimes charges.

Zentai appeared before the Federal Court in Perth on Tuesday for a bail extension hearing, after judges reserved their decision on his extradition. Earlier, Justice John  Gilmour had upheld a ruling made by magistrate Barbara Lane in the Perth Magistrates Court in favour of extraditing him. Read the full story

AJN staff

CHARLES (Karoly) Zentai found himself a step closer to extradition this week after a judge decided he could be sent to Hungary to face war crimes charges. On Tuesday, Zentai appeared before the Federal Court justice John Gilmour. His appeal against a ruling by the Perth Magistrates’ Court that he was eligible for extradition was subsequently dismissed.

He faces charges relating to his alleged role in the November 1944 murder of a young Jewish man, Peter Balazs, in Budapest.
Zentai, 87, of Perth, who was an officer in the pro-Nazi Hungarian army, denies the charges and claims he left Budapest the day before Balazs was murdered. Read the full story

AJN STAFF

ACCUSED Nazi war criminal Charles (Karoly) Zentai — who is fighting extradition to Hungary on charges relating to the alleged wartime murder of a Jewish man in Budapest — has taken a lie detector test in an effort to prove his innocence. Zentai took a polygraph test last week and claimed it found there was a 96 per cent likelihood that he was telling the truth regarding his alleged involvement in the death of Peter Balazs, 18, on November 8, 1944, in Budapest.

Zentai, 87, told the ABC’s PM program he understood that polygraph tests were not admissible as evidence in court, but said it was something he needed to do. “Everybody was throwing accusations at me. I was just getting tired of it all and I thought I had to do this,” Zentai said. Read the full story