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Czech President Vaclav Klaus, right, and his Hungarian counterpart Pal Schmitt inspect the honor guards during the 20th meeting of heads of states of the Visegrad Group countries in the court of the former royal palace in Visegrad, 42 kilometers north of Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. AP BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Hungarian lawmaker presented a draft bill on Wednesday which would make it easier to prosecute Hungary's former communist leaders and others who participated in the repression after the failed 1956 revolution against Soviet rule.

The bill submitted by Gergely Gulyas, a parliamentary deputy from the governing Fidesz party, would make Hungary's domestic laws include international legal principles relating to crimes against humanity.

Adam Gellert, a lawyer who wrote the new legislation, says that while Hungary has ratified an international treaty which declares that such crimes do not prescribe — the 1968 UN Convention on statutory limitations — in practice it is not enforced because it has not been transformed into domestic legislation.

"While, in legal theory, the Hungarian legal system takes these principles into account, in practice it doesn't do so," Gellert said. "For 40 years, the state has failed to live up to its obligation to implement the provisions of the ratified convention."

Gulyas, the lawmaker, said the aim of the bill was not revenge but to hold accountable those responsible for the serious crimes, similarly to other former communist countries in the region.

If the new law is approved and enforced, a few dozen former communist leaders, judges and political figures could face trial, including Bela Biszku, a 90-year-old former interior minister who was one of the driving forces behind the repression in the aftermath of the revolution.

Hundreds of people were executed after the 1956 uprising was crushed by the Soviet army, including the late Prime Minister Imre Nagy and several members of his revolutionary government.

Thousands of others were jailed or suffered other punishment for their role in the revolt lasting just a couple of weeks.

On Sunday, Hungary will commemorate the 55th anniversary of the start of the revolution in which around 3,000 people died, including some 700 Soviet troops.