Charges of premeditated terrorist act raised against Budapest bombing suspect

The Central Investigation Office of the Prosecution has raised charges of a premeditated terrorist act against a man currently in detention for his alleged involvement in a bomb attack carried out in Budapest last autumn, municipal prosecutor Imre Keresztes said on Friday.

In the attack on September 24 two police officers were wounded, one of them with life-threatening injuries, when the bomb exploded near a ground floor shop entrance in Budapest’s central Teréz körút (Avenue).

The suspect, identified as László P, was detained in Keszthely in western Hungary on October 19 on charges of premeditated attempt targeting members of authority.

The prosecution’s investigation office announced in February this year that the suspect, aged 24, had in effect admitted to having carried out the bomb attack. His pre-trial detention was extended until October 21 this year.

Keresztes said in a statement that pressing charges of a terrorist act was prompted by threats made by the suspect to carry out further bomb attacks targeting humans unless the interior ministry paid him one million euros in cash.

The deadline of closing the investigation is Sept 14, he said.

Source: MTI