Hungarian police rape case still in balance

If the prosecutor's office does not press charges against the policemen who allegedly raped Zsanett in Budapest in May, her lawyer Péter Tuza will, writes Népszabadság.

In the last seven months, investigators have not found any decisive evidence to prove conclusively that Zsanett had been raped by the five policemen. Although Tuza, unlike the suspects' defence lawyers, have not yet seen all the documents, he says those he has seen provide a sufficient base to press charges.

Prosecutor's office is scheduled to decide about the charges this week. If the lack of evidence results in the investigation being broken off, the five policemen may sue Zsanett for false accusations resulting in criminal prosecution. Experts say this is unlikely to happen because it would be too embarrassing for the prosecutors to admit that after seven months of investigation, they could not find any definitive evidence to decide if she had been really raped at all. They say the investigation will probably continue until prosecutors can either press charges against the policemen or state beyond doubt that Zsanett was not raped.

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