Tamás Gyárfás, the former head of Hungarian Swimming, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday. Media tycoon Janos Fenyo was killed in his car with a silenced submachine gun in his car at a busy Budapest intersection on 11 February 1998. It was one of the country's most notorious murders. 

Gyárfás, 74, was found guilty of "incitement to premeditated murder" by the Budapest Regional Court. The verdict in the high-profile case was read out in the courtroom under heavy security. During the trial, Gyárfás said he had "nothing to do" with Fenyo's death. He said it had "ruined" his life, according to statements gathered by AFP.

The perpetrator, a Slovak hitman named Jozef Rohac, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012. Meanwhile, Gyárfás was arrested and charged in 2018. The case had been reopened a year earlier. 

According to prosecutors, Gyárfás was involved in "business disputes (and) a power struggle" with Fenyo in the 1990s. This led to an "intense personal conflict" between the two media tycoons. The prosecution claimed that in 1997 Gyárfás decided that his rival should be killed.

Tamas Portik, a notorious underworld figure, planned the murder. He did so after another criminal Gyárfás had contacted had been unsuccessful. Portik was also sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday, having been previously been jailed for other crimes.

It took hours for the judge, Péter Póta, to explain his decision. Gyárfás was head of the Hungarian Football Association (MUSZ) for 23 years. He was forced to resign in 2016, after being criticised by famous swimmers for his "undemocratic" handling of the sport. Gyárfás is also a sports journalist. He was vice-president of swimming's world governing body, FINA (now World Aquatics), from 2013 to 2017.