Suspected priest murderer arrested after decades

Madrid/Budapest - After more than 30 years on the run, Spanish police have captured a suspected priest murderer. He is alleged to have killed a priest and tortured a nun during an attack in Hungary in 1991.

Published on 28.11.2024 at 11:46 –

More than three decades after the murder of a Catholic priest in Hungary, police have captured the suspected main perpetrator. Spanish officers arrested the 55-year-old Romanian in November in the town of Santa Coloma de Farners in the province of Girona, the Spanish police announced on Monday.

The man had been on the run since August 1991. At that time, he and accomplices allegedly killed a 72-year-old priest and tortured a nun in a robbery-murder in Paloznak on Lake Balaton.

Suspected accomplice caught in spring

The suspect had been on Europol's list of most wanted criminals for years. An accomplice, a 53-year-old Belgian, was arrested in Antwerp in March and handed over to the authorities in Hungary. A third person involved has since died.

The attack on 26 August 1991 in the vicarage of Paloznak shocked the country. The perpetrators beat pastor Gyula Csontos to death in his bed at night. In search of valuables, they tortured the nun and housekeeper Anna Balazs, who survived seriously injured. (KNA)