Biszku pleads not guilty to war crime charges in new trial

Budapest, October 2 (MTI) – Bela Biszku, Hungary’s interior minister in communist times, pleaded not guilty in a second trial to charges of committing war crimes after the anti-Soviet uprising in 1956.

In June, a municipal appeals court annulled a lower court ruling handed down in 2014 declaring Biszku guilty of instigation and complicity to homicide, and ordered a new trial.

The primary court sentenced the now 94-year-old Biszku to five years and six months in prison.

Legal historian Tibor Zinner and war historian Miklos Horvath told the court that there were no existing documents proving that Biszku had a direct role in the government’s retaliation after the revolution. They added, however, that under the dictatorship, commanders did not even need instructions from their superiors, as they knew what was expected of them.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters