Nazi suspect, Argentine immigrant tried in Serbia

Serbia’s war crimes prosecutors launched proceedings this week against a Hungarian citizen, who had immigrated to Argentina after World War II and returned to Hungary in 1996, on charges that he participated in mass killings of Jews and Serbs during Nazi occupation.

Prosecutors said they lodged a request for an investigation against Sandor Kepiro with the Belgrade war crimes court. The move is the first step toward an indictment and a trial. Prosecutors also urged the court to seek Kepiro’s extradition to Serbia.

The prosecutors’ statement said Kepiro, now 94, is suspected of acts of genocide during World War II. It says that he “in full awareness that of his own free will” he took part in the killings of at least 2,000 Jews and Serbs.

The worst killings took place during the so-called Great Raid of 1942, when about 800 Jews and 400 Serbs were rounded up, shot and drowned in the freezing Danube river in the northern city of Novi Sad, the statement said. The civilians were stripped naked and all their personal belongings were taken away, the statement added.

Last week, leading Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israeli branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, visited Serbia and urged the authorities to seek extradition of Kepiro and two other WWII suspects.

War crimes prosecutors acknowledged in the statement that the initial probe against Kepiro was carried out with help from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

Hungarian authorities have launched an investigation against Kepiro upon requests from the Wiesenthal Centre, but he was never punished for his role in the killings in Serbia.

After World War II was over, Argentina, under the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón — the founder of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Peronist party — became a haven for Jews but also for Nazi war criminals.

MercoPress

Serbia setting up case against suspected US Nazi

Serbia's war crimes prosecutors are preparing a case against an American who allegedly served in a Nazi unit that killed 17,000 civilians here during World War II, an official said Friday.

Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office, told The Associated Press that it has started gathering information about Peter Egner, 86, a native of Yugoslavia now living in U.S., in order to try him in Serbia.

"We have contacted the Americans, various archives, victims' associations to gather data," Vekaric said. "Once we collect enough material, we will launch a formal investigation and seek his extradition."

This week, the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court to revoke Egner's American citizenship, saying he had served as a guard and interpreter with the Nazi-controlled Security Police and Security Service in Belgrade from April 1941 to September 1943.

In its complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the Justice Department said that Egner had failed to divulge that information when he applied for U.S. citizenship. Instead, he reported serving in a German unit and was granted U.S. citizenship in 1966.

Egner, who now lives in a retirement community in the Seattle area, said this week that he was unaware of the U.S. complaint and refused to comment on the allegations about his past.

Vekaric said a delegation from the Serbian prosecutors' office will travel to Germany next week to check the archives about the Nazi occupation of Serbia during which tens of thousands of civilians were executed. Local historic and security archives also being thoroughly searched for any information about Egner, Vekaric said.

"If we make a strong enough case, a warrant will be issued for his arrest," Vekaric said. "There should be no obstacle for his extradition to Serbia to face justice."

The Justice Department complaint says that during an interview with federal authorities in February 2007, Egner admitted that he guarded prisoners as they were being transferred to the concentration camp of Semlin and the execution site of Avala, both near Belgrade. He also reportedly admitted serving as an interpreter during the interrogation of political prisoners.

His lawyer, Robert Gibbs of Seattle, confirmed that Egner served on a low level in the security police when he was 19 or 20, but said his client denies participating in any persecution.

The Justice Department, citing Nazi documents, said that in the fall of 1941, Egner's unit executed 11,164 people - mostly Serbian Jewish men, suspected communists and Gypsies - and that in early 1942, it killed 6,280 Serbian Jewish women and children who had been prisoners at Semlin. In two months, those women and children allegedly were taken from the camp and forced into a specially designed van, in which they were gassed with carbon monoxide.

Associated Press

Uefa tells referee to abandon U-21 final if racist abuse erupts

Uefa is willing to have the European Under-21 Championship final abandoned if there is a repeat of the racist behaviour from Serbian supporters which marred their group match against England.

The referee Damir Skomina has been reminded that he has the power to call an instant halt to tonight's match between Serbia and Holland, while European football's governing body has warned that it will operate a policy of zero tolerance against racist behaviour.

Uefa was forced to make an anti-racism announcement during England's 2-0 win against Serbia last Sunday, when the Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha was subjected to racist chanting and gestures from a section of supporters.

Serbia have now contacted their supporters to warn them of the possible consequences if any of Holland's black players are abused.

"They [Serbia] have gone out of their way to ensure a few idiots don't spoil the final," said Uefa's director of communications, William Gaillard. "Our president has made it clear that zero tolerance applies to the final. There is no problem for the referee to stop the game and there would be sanctions as well. We are prepared to take drastic measures. We hope it won't come to that but we are ready. This is supposed to be a celebration of football and we will not tolerate any racism."

The Dutch are concerned that the tournament could be overshadowed by the issue of racism while their coach, Foppe de Haan, has been quoted as describing Serbians as "a bit racist". The president of the Serbian Football Association, Zvezdan Terzic, has urged Serbian supporters to "control themselves".

Speaking to the Serbian TV station B92, he said: "For all their enthusiasm and patriotism, our fans must understand that outbursts of nationalism and racism will only cause damage to our football and our country's reputation."

Holland's captain, Ron Vlaar, will miss the final after a knee ligament strain and is likely to be replaced by Arnold Kruiswijk. The defender limped off during Wednesday's semi-final against England which ended in a 13-12 penalty shoot-out win.

Guardian

Extreme nationalist elected speaker of Serbian parliament

· Acting PM deserts alliance of democratic forces
· Setback to EU hopes of pro-western government

Serbia lurched back towards the pariah status of the 1990s yesterday when the acting prime minister switched his support to an extreme nationalist, making Tomislav Nikolic the influential speaker of the Serbian parliament.

For the first time since Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in 2000, the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, ordered his MPs to vote for the senior figure in the extremist Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is a former warlord on trial at the tribunal in The Hague for war crimes.

The decision by Mr Kostunica to desert Serbia's pro-European Democrats in favour of anti-western nationalists who advocate an alliance with Russia and China and remain loyal to the legacy of the late authoritarian, Slobodan Milosevic, marked a watershed in the country's failing attempt to escape a disastrous last 15 years.

"Serbia faces new self-isolation, a drastic worsening of its relations with its neighbours, and hard conflicts," predicted the country's Social Democratic Union.

Mr Kostunica's decision to switch sides followed months of bad-tempered negotiations with the pro-western Democratic party over a new government coalition.

Although Mr Kostunica is acting prime minister, Serbia has been without a new government since elections last January. The bargaining collapsed at the weekend because Mr Kostunica, whose party came third in the ballot, insists on remaining prime minister and retaining control of the powerful security services and police.

His rival, President Boris Tadic, leader of the pro-European Democratic party, refused the terms and Mr Kostunica switched sides. If no agreement on a new government is reached by next week, there has to be new elections. The extremist Radicals are the biggest single party, but unable to form a government, and could emerge strengthened from a new election.

The drama in Belgrade comes as Serbia takes the chair of Europe's human rights body, the Council of Europe, with its parliament headed by a politician from a party led by Vojislav Seselj, the ex-warlord being tried in The Hague, and the security services sheltering the genocide suspect General Ratko Mladic.

"I am not a danger to Serbia or anyone else's children," said Mr Nikolic after a marathon parliamentary session that saw him elected speaker early yesterday.

Dusan Petrovic, the Democrats' parliamentary leader, said Mr Kostunica's decision to support the extremists marked a departure from the values of October 2000 when Milosevic was overthrown in Belgrade. The upheaval coincides with western efforts to establish independence for Kosovo, Serbia's southern province. Mr Nikolic has threatened violent resistance to Kosovo independence.

Last night the crisis was deepening with the democratic forces boycotting the election of other key parliamentary positions and committee chairs, meaning that all senior posts in the chamber could fall into the hands of extremists and nationalists.

The developments in Belgrade represent a severe setback to EU efforts to engineer a pro-western government in Serbia. "The election of an ultra-nationalist as Serbia's parliamentary speaker is a worrying sign," said the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn. On Monday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that President Tadic should gain control of the police and security services, seen as crucial to hopes of arresting Gen Mladic.

Guardian