Victory for Australian war crimes suspect Charles Zentai

A 90-year-old Australian citizen cannot be extradited to Hungary to face accusations that he tortured and killed a Jewish teenager during the Second World War, Australia's highest court ruled yesterday.

The judges upheld a lower court's decision that Charles Zentai, a former Hungarian soldier, could not be extradited because there was no offence of war crime in Hungary in 1944.

Hungarian prosecutors say Mr Zentai is suspected of beating Peter Balazs to death in Budapest for failing to wear a star identifying him as a Jew. Mr Zentai, who migrated to Australia in 1950, has denied the allegation and has been fighting extradition since 2005.