Prosecutors : Hungarian Nazi suspect says innocent

Laszlo Csatary, 97, the Hungarian Nazi war crimes suspect arrested on Wednesday, maintains his innocence and says he was only following orders, prosecutors in Budapest said. "He denies being guilty of the crimes he is accused of," state prosecutor Tibor Ibolya said. "One of his arguments in his defence is that he was obeying orders." Ibolya added: "The suspect is in good physical and mental health. He is being cooperative. He was surprised (about being arrested) but he expected to be questioned." Csatary is accused by the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center of having helped organise the deportation of some 15,700 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp during World War II and is number one on their wanted list. The former police officer fled to Canada after the war and worked as an art dealer under a false name but is thought to have returned to Hungary in the 1990s after the Canadian government stripped him of his citizenship there. Hungarian prosecutors began investigating him last September after being given information by the Wiesenthal Center. He was arrested in Budapest by Hungarian police early on Wednesday morning.