Tolna county court yesterday sentenced 56-year-old József Góg to an eighteen-month suspended jail term for negligent driving, which caused an accident in which former Pécs mayor and Socialist MP László Toller suffered serious injuries.

On June 19, 2006 Góg overtook two lorries between Dombóvár and Tamási on route 61 in contravention of the highway code, forcing Toller's service car to swerve off the road. Toller's driver lost control of the vehicle, causing his car to overturn into a ditch. The driver suffered critical injuries and died three weeks later, and Toller has been in a coma ever since.

Toller's car was travelling at 110km per hour and was also to blame for the accident, while neither Toller nor his driver were wearing seatbelts. The driver could have been saved if he had been wearing his belt, experts said. The verdict will enable Toller’s family to launch a compensation lawsuit against the other driver, Népszabadság observes.

Toller's wife Tünde said she accepts the verdict, although she found it lenient. She added that her husband's state of health is unchanged.