Ernő Vadász

His threats did not come to fruition, and on the following day at 5:00 AM, Vadász was hanged at the Budapest Prison and Detention Center in Budapest by executioner György Pradlik. After the abolition of the death sentence in 1990, the judge who handed down Vadász's death sentence was interviewed about in 2009, where he reiterated his belief that capital punishment should be retained for certain crimes.

Both men appealed their respective sentences to the Curia, but Justice György Pálinkás rejected their appeal on May 18, 1988, stating that the established facts confirmed their guilt in the murder. Vadász then petitioned for clemency, but his request was denied by the Presidential Council, which finalized his death sentence.

On January 6, 1987, both Vadász and Lakatos, who were well known to local police, were arrested and charged with the murder, as well as several counts of robbery and fraud. On January 12, 1988, both were found guilty, with Vadász receiving a death sentence for the crime of premeditated murder, two counts of robbery, theft and fraud, while Lakatos was handed an 18-year prison term and a 10-year deprivation of civil rights for the same offences.

On November 10, 1986, the two friends met as per usual at the local bar. During their drinking session, the pair turned their attention towards József Hajdú, for whom other customers had gossiped that he lived alone. Upon learning this, Vadász and Lakatos decided to rob him.

Ernő Vadász (May 6, 1960 – July 14, 1988) was a Hungarian murderer who was sentenced to death and subsequently hanged for the torture-murder of a man in Tiszacsege in 1988, amidst a series of violent robberies. He is the last person to be executed in the country, as Hungary abolished the death penalty two years later.

Ernő Vadász was born on May 6, 1960, in Tiszacsege. He claimed to have had a difficult childhood and started doing small-time crimes from an early age, due to which he had been repeatedly incarcerated in prison. Upon release, Vadász would frequently get himself drunk and reoffend again, preferring to spend his time drinking alcohol at the local pubs than to search for a job. He and his friend, István Lakatos, became feared by local residents, as the two men were known for their violent tempers and inclination towards criminal behavior.