A former Communist-era interior minister of Hungary is expected to celebrate his 91st
birthday in custody after he was detained this week for his role in the bloody suppression
of the country's 1956 Revolution against Soviet domination. He is the first of the
1956 Communist leadership to face a criminal inquiry, and the only surviving member
of the Communist Party's interim executive committee from that year. Biszku is accused
of failing to protect civilians in wartime, and of responsibility for ordering security
forces to open fire on crowds – charges he denies – for which he could face a life
sentence. Prosecutors want him put under house arrest. The uprising against Hungary's
Communist dictatorship and its submission to the Soviet Union began in October of
that year and toppled the government. Within three weeks, however, Soviet forces had
invaded and re-imposed Communist rule. Listen to the report from regional correspondent
Stefan Bos: