Convicted war criminal in Vancouver jail as extradition order upheld

sanctus

The Padre
Oct 27, 2006
4,558
48
48
Ontario
www.poetrypoem.com
By Jeremy Hainsworth
VANCOUVER (CP) - A convicted war criminal living in Vancouver is in jail this weekend after the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld an extradition order made after a request from Italy, which has convicted the man in absentia.
Michael Seifert was sentenced to life after being found guilty in 2000 of nine counts of murder, committed during his term as an SS guard at the Bolzano prison transit camp in northern Italy.
The Italian government alleged the 83-year-old Seifert beat, tortured, starved and murdered inmates.
The Appeal Court says the crimes are of the worst order. The judges said it is not unjust for Seifert to face the consequences of nine murders accompanied by extreme cruelty.
Seifert's lawyer, Doug Christie, however, says he's appalled at the decision.
He says he will now seek leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"The government of Canada has promised in the past to try any war crimes in Canada. That's what they did with Imre Finta in 1989. They've never done its since. They've broken their word."
In 1990, Canada's first war crimes trial ended in Toronto when Finta, a retired Toronto restaurateur, was acquitted on all charges in the 1944 deportation of more than 8,600 Jews.
Seifert, who has lived in Canada since 1951, had been sentenced by a German military court for rape and, as a soldier serving in the German army, was assigned to guard isolation cells at the Italian camp.
"Mr. Seifert was, therefore, both a prisoner within the camp and a camp guard," the court said.
While admitting he was a guard at the camp, Seifert has denied being involved in atrocities.
A committal hearing for the extradition request ended with B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly ordering that Seifert be surrendered to Italian officials on seven of the nine counts.
Irwin Cottler, then Liberal minister of justice, upheld the decision and ordered the surrender of the so-called 'Beast of Bolzano' to Italy.
In doing so, Seifert's lawyers challenged Cottler as biased as he has been a supporter of Jewish organizations.
That allegation was rejected by the Appeal Court in its Friday decision.
In writing the decision, Justice Ian Donald noted there were grounds for discretion as Seifert had led a peaceful life in Canada, worked hard and raised a family.
However, he said, "having reviewed the evidence, I am satisfied that the evidence is sufficient for committal."
Christie said Seifert's wife and son are devastated by the decision. He says they have lived in a state of terror throughout the proceedings of the past few years.
At the Italian trial, people testified that Seifert starved a 15-year-old prisoner to death, gouged out a person's eyes, beat prisoners before shooting them and tortured a woman before killing her and her daughter.


Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
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Isn't it time we ended the second world war? This man was just twenty one years old at the very end of that war.
 

Impetus

Electoral Member
May 31, 2007
447
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Justice delayed is justice denied...
I'm sure the sentencing judges will take in account his age and the fact he hasn't tortured, starved or killed any prisoners since he came to his new home...

Meanwhile someone gets closure.

Oh, and John...are you by any chance related to the Toronto Mayor?
(use the hyperlink button)

Muz

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Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
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Isn't it time we ended the second world war? This man was just twenty one years old at the very end of that war.

Are you the same Juan who complained about a 23 year old US soldier only getting a real 10 years for acting as a lookout during rape and murder in Iraq?

Sadistic murder should have no statute of limitations.
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
18,326
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Are you the same Juan who complained about a 23 year old US soldier only getting a real 10 years for acting as a lookout during rape and murder in Iraq?

Sadistic murder should have no statute of limitations.

Colpy the two have nothing to do with each other. In the case of that U.S. soldier, everyone of those guys blamed every other at some point. At least one story said that he took part in the rape as well. As far as I'm concerned they were all guilty and should have all been shot.

In the case of Michael Seifert, we are talking about something that may or may not have happened 62 years ago and like I said, He was a kid who was also an inmate in that damn prison. And as he was a kid, who was his boss? Who gave the orders. I can't believe this man was in charge of anything. at nineteen or twenty years old.
 
May 28, 2007
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Honour our Fallen
I suspect lots of young blonde blue eyed nazis from good Aryan families rose to power quickly...come now we are talking about an adult here....and juan you should know that people back then were far more mature at the age of 20 than most today....*braces for the pain and wrath of the youngins*..

If he had nothing to hide he wouldn't try to hide behind Canadain law...

At the Italian trial, people testified that Seifert starved a 15-year-old prisoner to death, gouged out a person's eyes, beat prisoners before shooting them and tortured a woman before killing her and her daughter.
 

Cosmo

House Member
Jul 10, 2004
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Victoria, BC
I don't think the time is a factor. When someone behaves as Seifert did, he needs to accept consequences. The old "I was just following orders" would be bad enough, but from what I read here it sounds like a guy who loved his work. Good riddance, I say.
 

Nuggler

kind and gentle
Feb 27, 2006
11,596
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Backwater, Ontario.
caught another one

fly him back to Italy and release him.........at about 10,000 ft.

give him a parachute, but no rip cord, or a rip cord that just.........pulls away..........:laughing6:
 

Impetus

Electoral Member
May 31, 2007
447
33
18
What gets me is in the article Cosmo linked to it says he was originally assigned to the camp as "punishment" for raping a woman...yeah, big punishment...

More like a perq for someone like that!

Muz