Zentai seeks funds
88-yr-0ld Charles Zentai, facing extradition to Hungary to be questioned over the 1944 murder of Jewish youth Peter Balazs, is seeking funds to cover his legal costs.Zentai’s legal team will challenge the Attorney General’s department in the Federal Court in Perth next month over claimed withholding of information. Zentai’s son, Ernie Steiner, has issued a statement in which he says: “The Minister [Brendan O’Conner, the Minister for Home Affairs] chose to ignore the full extent of the submissions put to him in defence of Charles Zentai and instead relied on contentious summary statements and advice from his Department. This effectively denied Charles Zentai of his first opportunity after nearly five years to have arguments relating to his innocence considered in Australia. Mr Zentai will rightfully challenge the Minister’s decision in the Federal Court. Additionally, the Attorney General’s Department is refusing to reveal information it gave to the Minister prior to his decision to extradite. The Department has selectively made some parts of the summary advice available to Charles Zentai’s legal team but it has blacked out large sections of its documents and is refusing to provide unredacted copies under legal privilege. This withholding of information and secrecy will also be challenged in the Federal Court on March 5 prior to the Appeal hearing on March 31, 2010.”
The No Extradition Foundation has been established to raise funds for Zenta’s defence.
Hungarian authorities want to question Zentai about the Balazs murder. The Jewish youth was pulled off a Budapest tram and dragged to a nearby army barracks where three men beat him slowly to death in front of other prisoners. His body was then dumped in the Danube.
