Marc Turkow, secretary general of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said today that the French government was not pressing hard enough for the extradition of Klaus Altmann, a German businessman in Bolivia believed to be the wanted Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, He urged greater pressure by world public opinion and especially by Jewish organizations.
Turkow, who just returned from La Paz, expressed surprise that the West German government seemed to support what he called the French retreat on extradition. Turkow said Bolivian authorities were resisting the French extradition request on the pretext of Bolivian law which sets an eight year statute of limitation on prosecution for murder and a 16 year deadline in cases where the accused is charged in absentia.
Barbie, who was the gestapo chief for Lyons during World War II, is wanted for the murder of a French resistance leader and the deportation of French Jews. France is believed to have conclusive evidence that Altmann is Barbie. According to Turkow, Altmann circulates freely in La Paz accompanied by two body guards but he has been ordered not to leave the country.
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