On Tuesday, a former senior Communist Party official is facing trial in Hungary over his involvement in several war crimes. Reuters said in a report that 92-year-old Bela Biszku was charged with crimes leading to the suppression of the anti-Soviet uprising in 1956. Biszku allegedly had a role on a Communist Party committee that had seen the shooting of civilians during protests in the town of Salgotarjan and in Budapest in December of that year.
Reuters explained that the 1956 uprising in Budapest was a response against the Soviet-backed government and marked the first major threat to Moscow's aim to control eastern Europe following the end of World War Two. The shootings saw the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the incarceration of tens of thousands more after the revolution was defeated by Soviet tanks. Biszku, noted Reuters, served as interior minister then beginning 1957 until 1961.
The news agency said the charges filed against Biszku was spurred by a law passed by the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, which stated that war crimes and crimes against humanity don't lapse. Biszku's trial also gaind attention of domestic media as the proceedings were held ahead of the country's national election on April 6th.
Biszku, who was seen attending the trial in a grey suit, dark blue-rimmed glasses and a cane guiding him in his walk, has reportedly denied allegations filed against him. Biszku also spoke in response to the judge and said, "I do not wish to testify."
Gabor Magyar, Biszku's lawyer, had told reporters that the accusations lodged against his elderly client were unfounded. He said, "With relation to the shootings it needs to be proven that a political opinion expressed in a political committee was a specific call for action, based on which somebody fired guns in Salgotarjan or Budapest. I think there is no written evidence ... that would underpin this."
