Extradition of war-crime suspect denied

Australia's highest court Wednesday rejected an extradition request from Hungary for a suspected Nazi war criminal. The High Court's 5-1 ruling ended a legal battle that started in 2005 over the extradition of Charles Zentai, who, along with two other suspects, allegedly beat a Jewish teenager to death in 1944 for not wearing a yellow Star of David. Zentai and his companions are believed to have thrown the body in the Danube River near Budapest, CNN reported. Australian media reported the court ruled Zentai could not be extradited because "war crime" wasn't a legal offense in Hungary in 1944. The ruling upheld a 2010 Australian federal court ruling against an extradition order that was approved by former Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor in 2009. In 2005, officials in Hungary issued an international arrest warrant and extradition request for Zentai. Zentai, now 90, has said he is innocent, saying he left Nazi-occupied Budapest before the crime occurred. As of April, CNN said, Zentai was on Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of top 10 most wanted Nazi criminals for participating in "manhunts, persecution and murder of Jews in Budapest in 1944."