Sep 17 2008
Wheels of justice too slow in mafia case
Dozens could be released as court’s mandate runs out
Members of the notorious Koszi clan are to be released from remand because no verdict has been delivered in their case in the last three years. The defendants are charged with a string of mafia-style crimes ranging from murder, running protection rackets, armed hold-ups of cash delivery vans to oil theft and illegal oil trafficking.
Due to a regulation that was passed in 1998 but only came into force in 2003, nobody may be kept in pre-charge detention for more than three years without a judgement by the court of first instance. László Miszori, leader of the penal college of the Pest County Court told news website index.hu that the gang members are now expected to be held under house arrest.
Koszi clan
The Koszi clan is accused of stealing some HUF 46 million (EUR 192,334) of petrol from MOL’s Százhalombatta refinery in 2004 and 2005, and the double murder of a businessman known to the police, named József F., and his bodyguard in Diósdi in March 2005 after the former tried to blackmail the gang with his knowledge of the oil theft. Members of the gang were rounded up by police in 2005 in the wake of the double murder.
The Pest County Court initiated the first charges in 2006 in connection with stealing from the oil refinery. The second indictment was brought in September 2007 (concerning the Diósdi murders, and other crimes including collecting protection money and the robbery of cash delivery vans). Due to the close links between the cases, they were finally combined and the trial with 36 defendants began on 1 April this year, index.hu reported. The judgement of the first instance is expected in March 2009.
Miszori told index.hu that only two of the 36 defendants (clan leader István Sz. and his brother Miklós Sz.) are expected to still be under preliminary arrest at the time of the verdict, since their three years will expire on 6 April 2009. On 22 September a defendant charged with aggravated murder will be released and is expected to be put under house arrest. Other defendants will follow in October, including some between whom there are serious clashes of interests. If they do not adhere to the rules of house arrest then they will immediately return to preliminary arrest.
Black Army
Népszabadság reported that members of a gang known as the Fekete Sereg (Black Army) are also set to be released from preliminary arrest. Its rumoured ability to mobilise at least 100 hired gunmen in Budapest alone, and at least a thousand throughout Hungary earned the gang its name, an allusion to the vast army of mercenaries raised by King Matthias who ruled between 1458 and 1490. The Black Army is linked to the murder by a hired assassin of an underworld figure known as Ragyás Tóni (Pockmarked Tony) in 2003, and shooting at the Colosseum casino in Budapest in 2004, as well as numerous other mafia crimes. Gang leader Róbert M. and 26 other members are on trial at the Budapest Court. Róbert M.’s three years in preliminary arrest will expire on 20 September.
Witnesses fearful, police lack resources
Dozens of witnesses who have testified against members of the gang are terrified at the prospect of their release, according to Népszabadság. The daily noted that police were not willing to explain how they plan to protect witnesses and prevent defendants from escaping the country.
The problem is that house arrest is not as strict as it once was since an amendment to the act on criminal procedures in 2003, Miszori told index.hu. The police are not obliged to constantly monitor defendants under house arrest, he said. Although there is a legal possibility of using electronic equipment to track defendants, in practice the police have not been granted the financial resources to buy and operate such equipment. According to Miszori, the police stay in regular contact with the court and are obliged to report whether the defendants are adhering to the rules of house arrest. This can mean that police officers appear at the houses of clan leaders and members once or twice a week to check that they are at home, index.hu reported.
Wheels of justice too slow in mafia case – Written by Jacqueline White – Wednesday, 17 September 2008 – This story was found at: http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/9124/219/
