Budapest court hands prison terms, fine to paramilitary group members

A Budapest court has sentenced three members of the extremist Magyar Nemzeti Arcvonal (Hungarian National Front) paramilitary group to prison, while another four members received suspended prison terms and one was fined, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Budapest said on Monday.

The sentences are not binding. Seven members have been charged with possession of illegal weapons, ammunition and explosives, and another man with aiding the purchase of illegal weapons. The national police and the counter-terrorism force TEK conducted house searches in Jászberény, in central Hungary, and in Galgaguta and Bőny, in northern Hungary, in the autumn of 2016.

They seized more than 30 guns, several thousand rounds of ammunition and gun parts and one kilogram of explosives in the home of one of the members, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement to MTI.

Two of the group’s members have been charged with involvement in preparing anti-migrant and anti-Semitic propaganda material suitable for inciting hatred against those communities. The materials were posted on sites linked to the National Front in 2015 and 2016.

The prosecutor’s office appealed for stricter punishments.