Nazi 'beast' extradited to Italy for a life in prison

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Herald Sun

AN 83-year-old former SS prison guard sentenced to life in jail in Italy for committing Nazi war crimes has been handed to Italian police by Canada.

Michael Seifert was transferred to a military prison near Naples to begin serving his sentence.

Seifert, known as the Beast of Bolzano, was convicted in absentia in 2000 on nine counts of murder committed while he was an SS guard at a prison camp in Bolzano, northern Italy.

At his trial, witnesses testified that Seifert had starved a prisoner to death, gouged out someone's eyes and killed a woman and her daughter.

Seifert, a Canadian citizen of Ukrainian origin, acknowledged being a guard at the SS-run camp, but denied being involved in atrocities.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23225080-663,00.html

[gateley]

1. Which is why Bush is heading to Paraguay, not Canada.

Glad they got this guy.

[Wickerman]

2. It's my hope that Bush officials are tried and locked up for their crimes

in the next few years. If not, I pray my grandchildren, if not my children, read of Bush officials being extradited from far off lands to spend their remaining years in jail.

The fact that Holocaust is still being prosecuted gives me faith that one day justice will be dealt out on the Bush* clan and conspirators.

Glad to see they finally got "the beast".

[L. Coyote]

4. George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists

George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2459135

PLUS:

Italy: Judge issues 140 arrest warrants in "Plan Condor" case. Bush NOT YET indicted.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2528536

[JackintheGreen]

3. See, this is hardly satisfying

Life in prison? What's that going to be? Two years? Five?

This man did horrible things, then lived an entire lifetime in freedom. Now he pays his due? I'm glad he got caught, but it really just leaves me sad.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. It seems some country's have not been ambivalent about the nature

of demonic evil and the appropriate way to deal with it.

[pitohui]

10. me too, not a bit satisfying for someone who was gouging EYES

not to bother catching the creep until he's 83 really just means that he lived a full life and now is getting free nursing home care instead of putting the cost on his own family


i guess in some cases there really is and can be no justice but i don't see why they don't just fry the sucker (i know, no more death penalty in europe but when he committed the evil deeds, the DP was live, and to skate on that just because he evaded capture until long after the law was changed, well, it offends my sense of fairness)

[Tindalos]

13. No, not very satisfying

but even if he was sentenced to death, he'd sit on death row for years anyway and would probably die before he was executed. And, legally, I don't think Canada can extradite him to a country that would execute him (Harper is trying to "bend" that rule, but I don't think he's succeeding in changing it).

[pitohui]

15. oh i realize that

i'm not criticizing canada's actions at all

just railing at fate since the reality is that the dude got away with it and is only "paying" now that conviction doesn't really cost him much,a great many 80somethings who committed no harm to anyone are also forever trapped now in small rooms by age and ill health -- only at great cost to their families

the injustice is just disturbing

[trthnd4jstc]

5. War Criminals need to be locked up!

Including Monkey Boy, his Father, Henry Kissinger, Richard Pearle, Richard Armitage, Lord Vader, Condesleaza Fights, and countless others!

[Phred42]

6. The Entire Bush Crime Family are War Criminals and should take note

Here's something Bush & Cheney and the ENTIRE Bush Crime Family needs to keep in mind. They are War Criminals. And there will be no statute of limitations for them.

WEXLER: "The Constitution does not include a statute of limitations." http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=4357

[AZ Criminal JD]

8. I agree war criminals should face justice

But this guy was 13 years old when WW II began. I find it hard to believe he was organizing war crimes.

[pitohui]

11. i don't care if the crimes were "organized" or just opportunistic

if they had proof this guy was gouging eyes, then it doesn't matter to me if he was 13 or 103, he was old enough to know what he was doing was wrong -- what kind of teen sees other creeps torturing people all around him and says hey, you know what? that's so cool i'm going to gouge out some eyes

fry him!

[AZ Criminal JD]

12. I hope you excuse yourself from any juries

But with that weird viewpoint you would be removed from any jury that I had a client in front of.

[pitohui]

16. really you think it's a weird to assume 13 is old enough to know not to cut people's eyes out?

please don't have kids if you think this is something that can be excused on the grounds of youthful indiscretion

a toddler knows better than this, much less a teen

[AZ Criminal JD]

26. Cutting out people's eyes is not the issue.

The issue is trusting people's testimony after 69 years. Trial attorneys and police will tell you that you can't trust witness testimony 15 minutes later let alone 69 years. Plus the witnesses probably weren't adults either since if they were they would be in their 90s or above. What is next, prosecuting people who were 5 and 6 years old during the war?

[mitchum]

18. But what if pitohui can lie just as well as you and your client...

and you never find out about "that weird viewpoint"?

[AZ Criminal JD]

22. People like that almost always out themselves in jury questioning

They are wound up so tight inside that with the right question they fly apart like a bunch of springs. Ask any prosecutor or defense attorney. It is always funny to watch them when it happens.

[Demagitator]

9. Nazis alive?

I thought most of them were all dead from old age. I was born much after the time of Hitler, but I have read much about that time, about the Resistance movements, and famous pacifists.

[Tindalos]

14. Sadly, yes

There's still a few around, hiding in whatever countries they fled to after the war.

[LifeIsSweet]

17. Nazis are a perfect example of how....

millions of people can be brainwashed and manipulated by a single cultural movement.

[bluestateguy]

19. Are there any Nazi war criminals from the Nuremburg trials still in jail

Wikipedia still lists Hermanm Hackmann as being still alive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hackmann

[tuckessee]

20. Support the troops.

He was only following orders. Don't blame this guy until you have walked in shoes. Punish those in Berlin. Are you a veteran of the Eastern Front?

yadayadayadayadayada

:sarcasm:

[Donnachaidh]

21. when and if the Bush Admin gets to trial

You'll here ALL of those excuses, and I daresay quite a few more. Dreamed up by Gonzo and his lawyer friends. I can imagine some of them will blame their evil adult ways by being *deprived* of nurturing as children. :sarcasm:

[formercia]

23. Canada sends ex-SS guard to Italy

Source: BBC



An 83-year-old former Nazi prison camp guard has been transferred to Italy to serve a life sentence for murder.

Michael Seifert arrived in Rome from Canada where he had been fighting a battle against extradition.

An Italian military tribunal convicted him in absentia in 2000 of 11 murders at a prison camp in the northern city of Bolzano.
--snip--

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7248502.stm

---

Let this be a harbinger of things to come. Deja vu all over again.

[barbtries]

24. it's a spot of hope

maybe the bushies will see their day in court, and finish out their lives where they belong, in prison. amen

[Phred42]

25. Already posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3185142&mesg_id=3185142