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September 5, 2003
Michael Seifert is extradited
If his appeal fails, the "Beast of Bolzano" faces life
in an Italian prison.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Michael Seifert, a convicted Nazi war criminal living in East Vancouver,
has been ordered extradited from Canada, though he will not immediately
be sent to Italy.
After delays that included a hearing to determine Seifert's ability
to stand trial, the fate of the 79-year-old was decided in a Vancouver
courtroom on Aug. 27. Seifert was ordered extradited to face justice
in Italy, where he was convicted in 2000, in absentia, of war crimes
and sentenced to life imprisonment. Seifert refused to attend the
trial in Italy and has fought the Canadian government in court to
prevent the revocation of his Canadian citizenship and his extradition
to Italy. He continued in court this year to maintain his innocence.
Seifert's lawyer, Doug Christie, moved leave to appeal, which the
court granted. That gives Seifert and Christie 30 days to appeal
the case, a move that could serve to delay the extradition order
further. In the meantime, Seifert was held for a bail hearing over
the Labor Day weekend and was to be in court this week, seeking
release on bail pending a decision on appeal.
According to records revealed in court, Seifert was a German soldier
with a rank equivalent to corporal and was stationed at a concentration
camp in Bolzano, Italy, during the last months of the Second World
War. The Italian court found Seifert guilty in the death of no fewer
than 18 prisoners there. The court judgment described some of the
specific incidents in which Seifert was convicted of torturing,
raping and killing civilian captives at Bolzano.
The court records indicate that Seifert, among other incidences,
caused a 15-year-old Jewish boy to starve to death in January 1945;
the next month, he raped an unidentified pregnant young woman, threw
ice water on her to extract information, then murdered her; with
other soldiers, Seifert kicked and punched to death a prisoner who
had tried to escape; he similarly kicked two other prisoners, killing
them eventually with firearms; Seifert repeatedly tortured a victim
who was in an isolation cell until the victim died; Seifert and
another soldier clubbed a prisoner in the camp infirmary and the
victim later died of the injuries; following an order from a superior
officer seeking to warn prisoners against escaping, Seifert and
another soldier tied up a victim who had attempted to escape and,
in front of the other prisoners, savagely beat the victim and left
him overnight, during which time he died.
It took three years after Italy's conviction of Seifert on these
crimes for the extradition order to be handed down.
Seifert's case fighting extradition is similar to a large number
of cases in Canada, said Ruchard Kurland, a Vancouver lawyer and
activist on the war crimes issue. He said most accused or convicted
war criminals are more likely to die than be extradited in a timely
manner.
"This is the history of Canadian immigration [proceedings],"
he said. "A case will appear to be moving, but never crosses
the finish line.... Effectively, the only people who've left the
process have left by natural causes."
Other than dying, some convicted or suspected war criminals facing
extradition from Canada have succeeded in escaping justice by fleeing
to other countries, including Latin America, which do not actively
extradite Nazis, Kurland said.
Canadian Jewish Congress has taken an active part in pressuring
the federal government over the years to ensure that Nazi war criminals
living here receive justice in their lifetimes. Nisson Goldman,
chair of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, said Seifert
has escaped justice so far and being elderly is not a defence for
murder. Goldman pointed out that Seifert chose not to attend the
Italian trial three years ago and there is no suggestion that Canada
is attempting to extradite Seifert to a judicial system in a country
without due process.
"Italian courts are not uncivilized," said Goldman. "Why
should Mr. Seifert now claim immunity because he's old?"
The ticking of the clock should not deny the primacy of justice,
said Goldman, who is a lawyer.
"The issue is, just because you've gotten away with it for
a long time, [doesn't negate the view that] these horrific crimes
still need to be prosecuted," said Goldman.
In August 2001, the Jewish Western Bulletin revealed that
an East Vancouver Catholic church was raising funds to aid the Seifert
family and cover their legal expenses, an effort that was reportedly
halted by the church's hierarchy. Holy Family Church gave Seifert
$2,000 and, according to reports that the parish priest refused
to confirm or deny in an interview with the Bulletin, called
from the pulpit for other parishoners to step forward with cash
for the family.
A separate, technically unrelated case continues, as the federal
government attempts to strip Seifert of his citizenship. The effort
to revoke Seifert's citizenship rests on the allegation that, when
he arrived in this country in 1951, he did so under false pretences,
by covering up his Nazi past.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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