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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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