NEWS
Canadian Jury Acquits
Man Of War Crimes
Up to 75% Off
Bet *
KIDZ KLOZ
Baker's Dozen
on all
Oat Bran Muffins
(13 for Price of 12)
40% - 60% OFF
Spring Fashions
MOM' MITERIORS
TIIDI
lA
WALL UNITS!!
WALL UNITS!!
40% - 75% OFF
Select Purses, Business
Cases & Luggage
30% - 50% OFF
"TCBY"
V W
The CountrO Best *gun.
Waffle Cone Sundae
50C OFF
Fiesta Days Only
Drapery Cleaning
20% OFF
G
the A 4112
ILDr, Restaurant
Opening Soon
gallery inc.
Selected Original Graphics,
Paintings & Sculptures
Carmen's
naKLIM
U
SALON
Clothing & Tailors
Facials— $30
Cut & Perm With Mike — $45
Acrylic Nails (New Set) — $40
626-9877
25% - 50% OFF
Selected Merchandise
I-
,
THE PRIORITY CARD
1
IT'S WAITING JUST FOR YOU
ff
'- AT
14,0e7
I
L
co
ms
o
vio
20
CREWS FOOTVIAR
I
-
I
%°
FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1990
L
,s
The Time Shop
-
I
FREE Watch Battery
1 Per Customer With Ad I
Fiesta Days Only
7
15% OFF All Shoes
30% OFF All Purses
With This Ad
Previous Purchases
Excluded
I
FASHION HAS NO SIZE
14 PLUS
Expires June 5, 1990
Up To
50% OFF
■ Oki
Hot Dogs • Salad Bar
Char-grilled Burgers & Chicken
Cheddar/Chili Fries . .
p
I
Barry
I
WAREHOUSE
$3 OFF Any C.D.
Reg. $13.99 Now $10.99
With This Ad
,
Expires 6-2-89
Orchard Lake Road
North of Maple
West Bloomfield
Toronto (JTA) — Last
Friday's acquittal of Imre
Finta, the first accused Nazi
war criminal to be tried in
Canada, was received with
deep disappointment by
Jewish groups convinced by
eyewitness testimony of his
guilt.
But their concern was less
over the fate of the 77-year-
old Hungarian-born Finta
than with the possible future
reluctance of the Canadian
government to press charges
against other accused Nazis
or Nazi collaborators under
Canada's 3-year-old war
crimes legislation.
The Los Angeles-based
Simon Wiesenthal Center,
for example, urged the
Canadian authorities to
reaffirm their commitment
to pursue all other cases in-
volving Nazi war criminals
residing in Canada.
A jury of eight women and
four men in Ontario
Supreme Court found Finta
not guilty on all eight counts
brought against him, after
deliberating only one day.
The trial had lasted more
than six months.
Finta, a captain in the pro-
Nazi Royal Hungarian Gen-
darmerie during World War
II, was charged with kid-
napping, manslaughter and
robbery.
Prosecuting attorney
Christopher Amerasinghe
told reporters that although
he was disappointed with
the verdict, the trial estab-
lished that the 1987 legisla-
tion was constitutional.
The verdict can be appeal-
ed, but that would be up to
Canada's attorney general,
Kim Campbell. Under
Canadian law, an appeal can
be considered only if flaws or
errors are found in the trial
proceedings.
The kidnapping charged
against Finta stemmed from
his alleged forcible confine-
ment of 8,617 Jews, mostly
women and children, to an
unused brickyard in Szeged,
Hungary, in June 1944,
prior to loading them into
boxcars for deportation to
the Auschwitz and Strasshof
concentration camps.
Hundreds died on the
journey from overcrowding,
malnutrition and lack of
sanitary facilities.
Auschwitz was located in
Poland; Strasshof in
Austria.
All able-bodied Jewish
men had been sent earlier to
forced labor camps.
Those rounded up as alleg-
ed threats to national securi-
ty included thousands of
young mothers with their
young children and the el-
derly. They were first con-
fined to ghettos and then
marched to the brickyard,
where they were forced to
sleep on straw- covered
ground and to use open dit-
ches as latrines.
They were joined by the ill
from hospitals and scream-
ing mental patients.
All the deportees were
forced into boxcars, where
two buckets4served as toilets
for 60 to 80 people during
the three- to-five-day
journey.
Judge Archie Campbell,
who presided at the trial,
told the jury it had to deter-
mine that Finta knew the
acts he committed were in-
humane in order to find him
guilty of any of the four
counts of crimes against
humanity.
Campbell also advised the
jury that the case rested on
the identification of Finta by
witnesses at the brickyard.
He advised them it would be
"dangerous to convict" Fin-
ta on the manslaughter
charge, because there was no
evidence of the causes of the
deaths.
Survivors from Hungary,
West Germany, the United
States, Australia and Israel,
some of whom traveled to
Toronto to testify, identified
Finta as the officer who
helped confine Jews to the
brickyard and stripped them
of their belongings.
But as Amerasinghe
pointed out afterward, "The
45 years (since the events)
played a great part in the
evidence."
At present, cases are pen-
ding against at least three
alleged war criminals living
in Canada.
Finta, who was found guil-
ty of war crimes in absentia
by a Hungarian People's
Court in 1948, became an ob-
ject of sympathy for many as
he sat alone in court. Out-
side, he walked with a cane,
which several observers
maintained he did not really
need.
He did not take the stand.
When the verdict was an-
nounced, the former
restaurateur from Hamilton,
Ontario, wept and proclaim-
ed that he always "loved"
the Jewish people. He had
made the remark several
times before and had often
had himself photographed
with Jewish notables.