Australian faces charge of killing Jew

An immigrant to Australia could be deported to Hungary to stand trial for allegedly beating a young Jewish man to death more than 60 years ago.

Charles Zentai moved to Australia with his family in 1950, claiming to be a refugee. The Australian reports that on his application for citizenship he said he was living in Budapest in November 1944 when Peter Balasz, 19, was pulled off a tram.

Zentai was identified as one of the killers in testimony at a 1948 trial. But by that time, he was living in the U.S. zone in occupied Germany.

Witnesses at the trial not only said that Zentai was one of the soldiers who participated in the beating but that he identified Balasz as a Jew, which he knew because they had grown up in the same neighborhood.

Zentai's lawyer said his client plans to fight extradition.

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