Suspect in North-West Hungary police slaying pleads not guilty as trial gets under way

István Györkös, the suspect in the killing of a police officer in Bőny, in north-west Hungary, pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder on the first day of his trial in Szombathely, in western Hungary, on Wednesday.

The 78-year-old founder of the paramilitary group Magyar Nemzeti Arcvonal (Hungarian National Front) has also been charged with the illegal use of a firearm.

Györkös chose not to testify in connection with the charges and asked the court to hold his trial at his house in Bőny.

In the trial, the judge read out an earlier testimony from Györkös in which he had denied shooting the police officer in October 2016. The suspect insisted that he had only pulled the trigger after he himself had been shot.

Eyewitness testimonies contradicted Györkös’s statement, saying that it was he who had fired the first shots and the police officers had only responded.

On October 26, 2016, police sought to conduct a search of Györkös’s property because it was suspected that he had kept illegal firearms. Györkös fired shots at the policemen, killing veteran officer Péter Pálvölgyi.

Source: MTI