By Silvia Aloisi
ROME (Reuters) - A former Nazi guard extradited from Canadaarrived in Italy on Saturday to serve a life sentence for warcrimes committed there during World War Two.
Michael Seifert, who had lived in Canada since 1951, landedat Rome's Ciampino airport before dawn on Saturday.
Italian TV footage showed the 83-year old, wearing abaseball cap, walking slowly with the help of a cane as localpolice escorted him out of the airport.
An Italian military tribunal convicted Seifert in absentiain 2000 for torturing and murdering at least 17 people whileserving as a guard at a prison camp in the northern city ofBolzano between December 1944 and April 1945.
A copy of the sentence, posted on the website of Italy'sDefence Ministry, said Seifert -- known at the camp as "Mischa"-- had tortured his victims with fire, broken bottles, clubsand ice-cold water.
It said Seifert in one instance had raped a pregnant womandetained in an isolation cell before killing her, while in aseparate episode he had left a 15-year old Jewish prisoner todie of hunger.
Seifert has acknowledged being a guard at the prison, whichheld Jews and political prisoners awaiting transfer to Germanconcentration camps, but denied that he had killed anyone.
Dubbed by Italian media the "Executioner of Bolzano",Seifert was turned over to Italian authorities in Toronto onFriday.
The top military prosecutor in charge of the trial,Bartolomeo Costantini, said on Saturday Seifert was fit enoughto go to jail but may end up serving the sentence under housearrest because of his age.
"His conditions are compatible with detention," Costantinitold Sky Italia television after Seifert was temporarily takento a military prison.
Seifert was born in 1924 in Ukraine, then part of theSoviet Union, and began work as a guard in the Nazi SD securityservice after the German occupation. He was a member of the SSwhile serving at the Bolzano camp, Italian court documentssaid.
He moved to Canada after the war, claiming to be fromEstonia, and found employment as a mill worker in Vancouver,where he raised a family and lived until he was arrested atItaly's request in 2002.
Seifert fought his extradition in Canadian courts, but theSupreme Court of Canada refused last month to hear his appeal.
Seifert's lawyers had argued he had been convicted unfairlyin Italy and that Canadian officials were biased against him inallowing the extradition.
The Canadian Jewish Congress welcomed news of theextradition on Friday, saying it showed Canada was not a safehiding place for people wanted for war crimes.
The group has estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 people withNazi pasts were able to get into Canada illegally between 1947and 1956.
(Additional reporting by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; Editingby Catherine Evans)