High-ranking Hungarian communist Bela Biszku dies at 94

Published April 01, 2016

Bela Biszku, Hungary's only high-ranking communist-era official to be tried for his role in the repression after the 1956 revolution, has died. He was 94.

Biszku's death Thursday at a Jewish hospital in Budapest was confirmed by the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Religious Communities.

Biszku was interior minister and part of the Communist Party's ruling interim executive committee after the October 1956 uprising was crushed by Soviet forces.

The committee created armed militias to carry out the repression, killing dozens.

Biszku denied any involvement but was sentenced in 2014 to five years and six months in prison for war crimes. A higher court voided the verdict and ordered a retrial, which concluded in December with Biszku given a suspended sentence on lesser charges. The conviction was under appeal.

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