Hungarian 1956 communist leader charged with war crimes

Hungarian prosecutors filed war crimes charges Wednesday against Bela Biszku, a former communist leader, for his conduct in the aftermath of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising in Budapest.

The 92-year-old is accused of “active involvement” in the decisions to order security forces to open fire on crowds in two incidents in December 1956 during which about 50 people were killed. Arrested in September last year and under house arrest since then, he is the first of the 1956 communist leaders to face a criminal inquiry. The accusation made ​​by two Members of Parliament – György Szilágyi and Előd Novák from Jobbik.

“A member of the narrowest circle of party leadership,” his actions constituted “war crimes — as an abettor — and homicide against more than one person,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.

Biszku, a prominent communist party leader who went on to become interior minister in 1957, has also been charged with “complicity in criminal acts” for covering up reprisals after the Soviet Union crushed the uprising.