PERTH, Australia, October 23, 2009 (AFP) - An 88-year-old accused of Nazi war crimes has vowed to fight his extradition to Hungary after being taken into custody in Australia, a report said.

Charles Zentai, who is accused of beating a Jewish teenager to death during World War II, said he would "definitely" appeal if Home Minister Brendan O'Connor decides he should face Hungarian justice.

Zentai handed himself over to police late on Thursday after exhausting legal avenues to stay out of jail while the four-year case is decided.

"I definitely will. Or else we'll try anything to get justice," he told public broadcaster ABC, when asked about an appeal.

"It's not going to be a very pleasant time for me, considering my age, my health, my reasonably poor physical health. I might be sitting there for months," he added.

Zentai is accused of murdering 18-year-old Peter Balazs in 1944 in Budapest while serving as a soldier in the army of his native Hungary, then allied with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Zentai, who emigrated to Australia after the war, denies the accusation. He has mounted a series of challenges since being ruled eligible for extradition last year.

"They just have no idea, no idea how (the) situation in Hungary (is) not the best," he said. "You may hear people saying here that it's a democratic country, but it's far from it."

The allegations were brought by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Jewish human rights organisation known for tracking down alleged Nazi war criminals.

Zentai was living quietly in the western Australian city of Perth before the Hungarian government began extradition proceedings in March 2005.

"There is a smell of injustice about this case," his lawyer Denis Barich told reporters.

"Some or all of the witness statements that have implicated Mr. Zentai and his alleged accomplice in the alleged offence are tainted and have possibly been made under coercion or the threat of torture, or both," he added.