Slovakia commutes death sentence for Lazlo Csatary to life imprisonment
~~Addison Morris
~~Addison Morris
A Slovak court has commuted a death sentence against Laszlo Csatary, a war criminal whom Slovakia wants extradited from Hungary for his complicity in murdering thousands of Jews.
The decision cancels a 1948 sentence Csatary received in absentia for torturing Jews and helping deport them to Auschwitz when he served as senior police commander in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice.
Csatary is 98. He was in hiding for decades until Hungarian authorities put him under house arrest in Budapest last July. He has denied any guilt.
The Slovakian cancellation of the death sentence was based on the punishment's abolishment of the death penalty in the country 1990.
Slovakian legal analysts said that with Csatary's death sentence now null and void, a way was opened for Slovakia to seek other punishment for him and obtain his extradition from Hungary.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has estimated that Csatary helped organized the deportation of some 16,000 Jews to Auschwitz in 1944. He has denied all responsibility for any crimes against humanity.
Eyewitness accounts have fingered him as having whipped, tortured and even killed some of the deportees before they left. Csatary is number one on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's wanted list.
The decision cancels a 1948 sentence Csatary received in absentia for torturing Jews and helping deport them to Auschwitz when he served as senior police commander in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice.
Csatary is 98. He was in hiding for decades until Hungarian authorities put him under house arrest in Budapest last July. He has denied any guilt.
The Slovakian cancellation of the death sentence was based on the punishment's abolishment of the death penalty in the country 1990.
Slovakian legal analysts said that with Csatary's death sentence now null and void, a way was opened for Slovakia to seek other punishment for him and obtain his extradition from Hungary.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has estimated that Csatary helped organized the deportation of some 16,000 Jews to Auschwitz in 1944. He has denied all responsibility for any crimes against humanity.
Eyewitness accounts have fingered him as having whipped, tortured and even killed some of the deportees before they left. Csatary is number one on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's wanted list.
Courtesy: Jewish News One
