Far-right party call on govt to prosecute communist-era officials

(28 Sep 2012)
1. Various of supporters of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party march to prosecute communist-era officials
2. Mid of Adam Gellert, historian and expert in international criminal law, opens his laptop
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Gellert, Historian and expert in international criminal law:
"He's one of the last living members of the central committee. Members of the military committee are not alive anymore, so it's only Bela Biszku against whom charges can be made."
4. Cutaway of Mr. Gellert looking at his computer.
5, SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Gellert, Historian and expert in international criminal law:
"So far no charges against anybody were brought for any acts in the retribution of 1956 (revolution)."
6. Cutaway Gellert looking at his computer
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Gellert, Historian and expert in international criminal law:
"If you want it, you could build a very strong case against Bela Biszku."
8. Pan Gellert walking down the street
9. Tilt down on the facade of the Terror Museum
10. Wide of a 1956 Soviet tank in front of the memorial wall of the victims
11. Wide of visitors looking at the tank on display
12. Pan of the photo display of the perpetrators
13. Mid of the pictures of the perpetrators
14. Close of the portrait of Bela Biszku
15. Wide of a cemetery where victims of the retribution of the 1956 anti-communist revolution are buried
16. Close of the grave of Imre Nagy, martyr prime minister of the revolution
17. Various wooden grave marks of the victims
STORYLINE:
Hungary's far-right Jobbik party marched in Budapest on Friday calling on the government to prosecute communist-era officials who took part in the repression that followed the defeat of the anti-Soviet uprising of 1956.
Jobbik politicians and sympathisers marched from the home of a 1950s prosecutor whose efforts led to the execution of several revolutionaries, to the home of former interior minister Bela Biszku.
Biszku is under house arrest and suspected by prosecutors of war crimes, because as a high-ranking member of the communist government he supported decisions which led to the indiscriminate shooting of civilians at two events in December 1956.
Jobbik also wants authorities to reduce the "luxury" pensions received by former communist officials.
The country's new constitution specifically allows such cuts, but so far the government has not proposed doing so.
If his case goes to trial, Biszku would be the first high-ranking communist to face justice for the repression after the 1956 revolution.
Asked about it when Biszku's detention was announced earlier in September, prosecutors said they had been in office for only a few months and had acted as quickly as possible.
Still, the official investigation into Biszku's past was launched only after a member of Jobbik denounced him to authorities.
As for Biszku, prosecutors said they were also investigating his alleged meddling in the justice system during the hundreds of trials in the post-1956 crackdown, mostly to ensure that the harshest possible sentences were handed down.
A legal expert following the case said Hungarian authorities have for years had the legal resources to charge Biszku and others, but had refrained from doing so.
"If you want it, you could build a very strong case against Bela Biszku," said Adam Gellert, a lawyer who has been researching the issue.
About 300 people were executed after the 1956 uprising was crushed by the Soviet army and thousands jailed and sent to internal exile.
Some 200,000 Hungarians fled to the West during the revolt.


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