ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Jan. 18 - Poland May Ask Syria To Extradite Criminal.

Poland says it is considering a Jewish group's request to ask Syria for the extradition of an alleged Nazi war criminal, Alois Brunner, who served as top aide to Adolf Eichmann, overseer of the Nazi death machine. Justice Minister Hanna Suchocka says she would make a decision after reviewing files on Brunner in Poland and at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem. She 'RMF-FM': "We will analyse the case and we will decide what procedures to take". (As Eichmann's aide, Brunner allegedly helped organise the deportation of at least 130,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, France and Greece to the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. He is believed to have lived in Syria for years, although Syrian Pres. Assad has said that, to his knowledge, Brunner was not in his country. If the former SS officer is still alive, he would be 87.)

In December, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre approached Poland's ambassador to Israel to ask Syria to extradite Brunner now that Syria and Israel have resumed peace talks. The Nazi-hunters also raised the issue with diplomats from Germany, Austria, France, Greece and Slovakia. Witold Kulesza, former head of Poland's commission investigating Nazi and communist crimes, who prepared a legal opinion for the Justice Ministry, says: "Poland has a right and duty to ask for [extraditing Brunner]". Kulesza says: "According to criminal law, a crime is considered to be committed either in a country where a criminal acted or where the results of his crime occurred", adding: "Poland has a legitimate right to ask for extradition of the perpetrator to put him before the court".