The recordings of the trial are being played in their entirety in the same time frame as the trial took place, on June 9-15, 1958.
In the recordings played on Monday, listeners could hear Ferenc Vida, who headed the tribunal, order a closed hearing, and Imre Nagy protest that the public had a right to hear the proceedings.
Nagy was at odds with the accelerated procedure as well. The recordings reveal he complained that his lawyer had not received his case file until three days before the start of the trial, leaving him little time to familiarise himself with the eight-volume document.
Vida rejected Nagy's pleas and named the charges against him, among them treason and resistance against the socialist state order.
Along with Nagy, former president of the republic Zoltán Tildy was charged with actively participating in the revolution to "restore the bourgeoisie". Sándor Kopácsi, who was the second highest commander in the army, was charged with "undermining the Hungarian military" and participating in the "counter-revolution" with weapons. The same charge was brought against Nagy's defense minister Pál Maléter, who was also charged with passing on secret information to an English attaché.
Among the others who were charged were army commander Béla Király, in absentia; József Szilágyi, the head of Nagy's cabinet; and the journalist Miklós Gimes.
Present at the playing of the recordings on Monday was Nagy's granddaughter Katalin Jánosi and Pál Maléter's widow Judit Gyenes.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
