Court acquits former secret service officials of espionage charges

Budapest (MTI) – A regional court acquitted former secret service leaders of espionage charges in a retrial ordered by the Budapest Court of Appeals last June.

On July 5, 2013, György Szilvásy, the minister in charge of the secret services under the Socialist Gyurcsány government, and Lajos Galambos, former director of the National Security Office, were sentenced in a non-binding ruling to two years and ten months each in prison for espionage. Sándor Laborc, also a former director of the National Security Office, received a one-year prison term suspended for two years for espionage and complicity. The fourth defendant known only as László P. was the owner of a security firm with Russian ties. He was charged with crimes against the state.

Last June, these sentences were quashed due to procedural errors found by the court and a repeat procedure was ordered. It is this procedure held in Kaposvár, in south-west Hungary, that now ended with acquittals. The decision can be appealed.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI