CORRECTION: The following report indicates the Canadian Supreme Court made the ruling entailed here. That is incorrect. The British Columbia Supreme Court made the initial ruling, the Canadian Supreme Court may hear appeals.
The Canadian Supreme Court upheld an extradition against a convicted Nazi war criminal to Italy. Michael Seifert, the 83-year old “Beast of Bolzano,” was found guilty of over nine counts of murder during his role as an SS guard at the Bolzano prison in northern Italy. The Italian government has convicted Seifert in absentia for torture and murder. His defense team, while acknowledging his presence at the prison, allege Seifert was not complicit to the atrocities. The Canadian court ordered Seifert be surrendered to Italian officials.
Bolzano was an Italian transit center for Jewish and others deemed “undesirable” citizens facing deportation to concentration camps. Survivors have testified in the trial against Seifert that he tortured and beat prisoners, and raped several woman, including pregnant mothers. In one testimony, Seifert allegedly lured a young boy from his cell and gouged his eyes out. According to the testimony, the torture continued for three nights, after which Seifert finally killed the boy.
Seifert surfaced in Canada in the early 50's, taking up employment at a lumber mill. Italian investigators become interested in Seiferts case after a re-examination of Italian records from the second World War. These records, which the Italian government deems “the cabinet of shame”, provide accounts of Seiferts brutal record while serving at the Bolzano prison. He was convicted of war crimes by the Italian government in 2000, though remained free in Canada while extradition orders were negotiated.
Canada has faced a past of allegedly harboring various war criminals, including Seifert and extremists associated with the Rwandan genocide. A Canadian law passed in 2000, however, stated that Canada “will not become a safe haven for persons who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, or other reprehensible acts regardless of when or where they were committed.”
Mr. Seifert faces a life term in Italy.
