Prosecutor seeks life imprisonment for former communist leader

Budapest, December 4 (MTI) – Bela Biszku, a senior communist official at the time of Hungary’s 1956 revolt, should be punished with life imprisonment for his part in the retaliation that followed the failed uprising, the prosecutor said in his indictment during a repeat trial of the 94-year-old defendant on Friday.

Biszku’s attorney asked the court to acquit the defendant and dismiss the case for lack of evidence. The attorney said there is no evidence that the retaliation against anti-communist protesters in 1956 and 1957 was ordered by his client. Biszku is accused of having ordered the shooting of anti-communist protesters in December 1956 and the beating of academics in March 1957.

The attorney said the charges against Biszku are politically motivated by the ruling Fidesz party. “Fidesz is trying to prove its anti-communist stance through the Biszku case and at the same time trying to win over votes from the … radical Jobbik,” the attorney said.

In May last year, the municipal court of Budapest sentenced Biszku to five and a half years imprisonment for instigating homicide and other crimes. The municipal court of appeals, however, threw out the verdict a month later saying that the charges were unfounded and related developments could no longer be investigated. The appeals court ordered another hearing.

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