Man charged with killing Serbs, Jews and Roma acquitted

A Hungarian court has acquitted WW2 fascist Hungarian Gendarmerie officer Sandor Kepiro, who stood trial charged with war crimes committed in occupied Serbia. The Budapest Prosecution charged him in February of this year with taking part in the infamous Novi Sad Raid, when 1,200 Serbs, Jews and Romas were rounded up and executed in the space of three days in February 1942. Man charged with killing Serbs, Jews and Roma acquitted In the raid in the town itself, and in the Sajkacka District of northern Serbia, a total of some 4,000 Jews, Serbs and Romas were killed. Kepiro was also suspected of taking part in deporting Novi Sad Jews to the Auschwitz death camp in 1944. Kepiro was on Jerusalem's Wiesenthal Center list of most wanted war criminals. The former officer, who protested his innocence during the trial, saying that he neither received nor followed orders to take part in the massacre, was already sentenced to 10 and 14 years in prison, but fled to Argentina after the war and never served his time in jail. He returned to Hungary in 1996. The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution submitted a request for investigation in 2008 and issued an arrest warrant for Kepiro, but Hungary said its Constitution did not allow for extradition of its citizens to other countries. Kepiro in the Budapest court (file)

Man charged with killing Serbs, Jews and Roma acquitted

In the raid in the town itself, and in the Šajkačka District of northern Serbia, a total of some 4,000 Jews, Serbs and Romas were killed.

Kepiro was also suspected of taking part in deporting Novi Sad Jews to the Auschwitz death camp in 1944.

Kepiro was on Jerusalem's Wiesenthal Center list of most wanted war criminals.

The former officer, who protested his innocence during the trial, saying that he neither received nor followed orders to take part in the massacre, was already sentenced to 10 and 14 years in prison, but fled to Argentina after the war and never served his time in jail.

He returned to Hungary in 1996.

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution submitted a request for investigation in 2008 and issued an arrest warrant for Kepiro, but Hungary said its Constitution did not allow for extradition of its citizens to other countries.