Fugitive Holocaust Denier Turned Over To Germany
(JTA) — Hungarian officials have handed over to German authorities right-wing extremist Horst Mahler, who fled Germany to avoid serving out the rest of a sentence for Holocaust denial and incitement to anti-Semitism.
Mahler was transferred late last week into German custody at Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt Airport, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Mahler, 81, was arrested on May 15 in the Hungarian city of Sopron while trying to cross into Austria.
He had asked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for political asylum in a letter he published May 12 on the internet. Referring to Orban as the “Fuehrer” of the Hungarian nation, Mahler said he “placed his fate in the hands of his government.” A Budapest court ordered his extradition earlier this month.
In April, Mahler had been ordered to return to the Brandenburg/Havel correctional facility on May 19 to begin serving the final stretch of a 10-year sentence handed down in 2009. He had been released temporarily for health reasons, and reportedly had part of a leg amputated due to an infection.
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