Speculation was rife here and in other major centers in Brazil today as to the attitude of Brazil’s new Government and the new authorities heading the country’s Foreign Ministry, Supreme Court, Justice Ministry and Federal police, regarding the possible extradition of Franz Paul Stangl, the former Nazi commandant of the Treblinka and Sobibor concentration camps.
All of the top national officials concerned in the case have been replaced since Stangl’s arrest at Sao Paulo on March 2. Brazil’s new president, ex-Marshal da Costa a Silva, has retired Justice Nelson Hungria, former president of the Supreme Court, has named two adherents to head the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice; and has replaced the former Federal Police chief with another army officer. Col. Campelo.
The Foreign Ministry’s attitude is vital because three countries — Austria, West Germany and Poland — have requested Stangl’s extradition, while Israel and other countries have informed the Government that they endorse the pleas for the Nazi’s extradition. Former Chief Justice Hungria has issued a statement, declaring that Stangl could not be extradited since more than 20 years had passed since his commitment of the genocide crimes, and Brazilian law puts a 20-year deadline on prosecutions for such crimes.
An effort to have Stangl released on a writ of habeas corpus has been denied by the reorganized Supreme Court, But his attorneys have complained that, thus far, none of the foreign governments has supplied Brazil with documentary evidence of his guilt as a mass murderer. There is wide concern here on that score, many persons fearing that, unless the promised documents are supplied very soon by Austria, West Germany or Poland, the case against Stangl may collapse.
MYSTERY SURROUNDS FINANCING OF STANGL’S EXPENSIVE DEFENSE LAWYERS
There is also great interest here in the question of who is financing Stangl’s very expensive corps of defense attorneys. Immediately after his arrest, the Volkswagen automobile plant at Sao Paulo named a prominent jurist to act as his counsel. Stangl was an employe of the Volkswagen firm, a German company, and his wife was — and still is — employed by another German automobile firm at Sao Paulo, the Mercedes-Benz company.
Shortly after Stangl’s arrest, the jurist named by Volkswagen to defend him withdrew from the case, But the three attorneys who have since taken over the defense are counsellors of very wide reputation in this country and have added other prestigious lawyers to their defense corps. The Brazilian press has voiced wide speculation about what it calls the “mystery” of Stangl’s defense.
Under the previous Federal police regime, promises had been made that Stangl would be presented at a press conference where he could be questioned by representatives of the press, radio and television. At the request of his principal attorneys — Basilio Garcia, Ilvio Lopes and Otavio Teixeira — the Supreme Court has forbidden the conduct of such a conference, on the grounds that it might jeopardize Stangl’s defense.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
