Canada’s Attorney General Ramon Hnatyshyn has signed a preferred indictment against Imre Finta, the first person to be charged under Canadian law with crimes against humanity.
The preferred indictment means that Finta will not face a preliminary hearing, but will go directly to trial.
Finta, 77, appeared in Ontario Supreme Court last week before Judge Archie Campbell. He will appear again in court on Sept. 15, when a trial date will be set.
The eight-point indictment charges Finta with committing both war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II.
It alleges that in 1944, he unlawfully confined 8,617 Jews at Szeged in Hungary and stole jewelry, money and other valuables from them while using threat of violence.
Another charge relates to incidents at a railway station in Rocus, Hungary, where it is alleged that Finta, then a captain in the gendarmerie, kidnapped Jews and had them sent out of the country.
He is further charged with being responsible for the deaths of Jews during transport through Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
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