Zentai’s lawyers to appeal today
The lawyers for Charles Zentai, the 88-yr-old Perth man currently in prison awaiting extradition to his native Hungary to face questioning about the 1944 murder of a Jewish youth in Budapest, will make two appeals today.
Charles Zentai
Zentai’s lawyer, Dennis Barich, told J-Wire this morning: “We expect to lodge an appeal today to the Federal Court requesting a judicial review of the decision made by the Minister for Home Affairs approving my client’s extradition.
We will also lodge an appeal against his continuing imprisonmend and will make an application for bail under interlocutory orders.”
Both appeals will be heard by a single judge. Barich told J-Wire that he expects the bail application to be heard reasonably quickly but the appeal for the review could take up to six months depending on the volume of cases waiting to be heard.
He added: “If either or both fail, the next step will be to take the matter or matters to the Full Federal Court where the hearing or hearings would be heard by three judges. If we do not meet with success there, the final avenue open to us is to appeal to the High Court.”
Zentai is alleged to be one of three men who beat 18-yr-old Peter Balazs to death in a Budapest army barracks. Balazs had been spotted in a Budapest tram not wearing the mandatory Star of David. He had, however, been living under Swiss protection in an apartment block owned by that country.
Australia has never prosecuted one of its citizens for Nazi WWII crimes.
