An Austrian court today acquitted in absentia Otto Skorzeny, notorious Nazi, of charges of having tortured and murdered Czech citizens, and this cleared the way for Skorzeny’s return to Austria from Madrid where he has been living for the past decade.
Skorzeny, who won world notoriety by spiriting Mussolini out of Allied hands in 1943, was acquitted by an Allied military tribunal in 1947 of having murdered Czech nationals. The Czech authorities thereupon applied to Austria, of which country Skorzeny is a citizen, for his extradition. The court decision clearing Skorzeny was the last block to his return here.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.