A man who shot a police officer to death on Wednesday morning in a village in western Hungary has been identified as a well-known neo-Nazi.
Police arrived to the address in Bőny, near the city of Győr, on Wednesday morning to carry out a house-search but the suspect, identified as 76-year-old István Győrkös, opened fire on officers before they entered the property, the local newspaper Kisalföld’s online edition reports. 46-year-old chief investigator Péter Pálvölgyi was killed on the scene, while the suspected perpetrator was taken to hospital with a wound on the stomach after being arrested by Counter-Terorrism Centre (TEK) personnel, according to press reports.
The killer of the police officer has been identified by the press as well-known extremist István Győrkös (photo: origo.hu)
At an official press conference at 14:00 p.m., prosecutors revealed that the attacker fired 5-6 shots from an assault rifle when police officers arrived with a search warrant under an investigation he was facing. Proceedings have been launched on suspicion of manslaughter against a public official threatening the lives of several people and abuse of a firearm, it was pointed out.
Last year, Győrkös’s group attempted to attract new members with this chilling video posted online
According to Kisalföld, the house where the shootout took place is linked to the activity of Magyar Nemzeti Arcvonal, a far-right extremist organisation led by Győrkös. In 2009, the paper reported on rumours that the organisation was organising the military training of German neo-Nazis at a nearby base.
Győrkös, who is currently in hospital after a successful operation, has been identified as a well-known figure of the neo-Nazi scene of the early to mid-1990s in Hungary and the leader of Magyar Nemzeti Arcvonal, a small far-right paramilitary group he founded in 1989. Győrkös had moved to the village from nearby Győr and was seen in the village only rarely while driving a car, local mayor László Muraközi said.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán issued a statement expressing his shock at the police officer’s death and offering his condolences to the investigators family. “Against those who commit such offending, action must be taken with the strongest possible rigour and toughness”, he wrote.
via origo.hu
photo: Csaba Krizsán/MTI