The former Israeli boxing champion, accused of the brutal murder of his girlfriend and mother, was extradited to Hungary

After 33-year-old Tawfik Nasra's extradition appeal was rejected, the former outstanding athlete was handed over to Hungarian authorities, where he will be retried.

A defendant who strangled his girlfriend, 21-year-old Christina Kovacs, and her mother Monica, and then set fire to their apartment to cover up evidence, has been jailed.

If convicted, he faces life in prison

Yoav Itiel

10/09/2022

Saturday, September 10, 2022, 6:31 p.m. Updated: Sunday, September 11, 2022, 7:22 a.m.

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They met in Bonn and after a short time announced the relationship on Facebook.

Tawfik Nasra and Christina Kovac during their relationship (photo: official website, use according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

The murderous violence in the Arab society in Israel also causes victims abroad: the 33-year-old boxer Tawfiq Nasra, a resident of Abu Sanan in the Western Galilee, was extradited this week (Wednesday) to Hungary, where he is accused of brutally murdering his girlfriend and her mother and setting fire to their apartment - to cover up the double murder He was already convicted there, in his absence, but on appeal, also in his absence, the conviction was overturned for legal reasons, and the trial will now begin anew.

In July, at the Supreme Court, judges Dafna Barak-Erez, Anat Baron, and David Mintz rejected an appeal filed by Nasara through the chairman of the Chamber The lawyers in Israel, Adv. Avi Himi and Adv. Kobi Abitbol on the decision of Judge Shirley Renner at the District Court in Jerusalem, to extradite him.

They deny in his name what is attributed to him completely.

Nasra, a former outstanding athlete, Israeli boxing champion for nine years in a row and a member of the Israeli national team, represented Israel in a large number of European tournaments and championships.

Later he served as a certified coach.

"A caring person with a tremendous desire to help others and those around him," described him to the court Yaakov Voloch, CEO of the Israel Boxing Association.

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The mother objected to the relationship because of Nasra's aggressive and jealous behavior.

Christina Kovac with her mother, Monica Kakai (photo: official website, use according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)

Nasra, who lived in Germany for about three years, returned to Israel in a panic after the fatal incident in October 2018, and once again started a new life.

He began studying economics and management and later also enrolled in law studies and opened a restaurant.

With the exception of his immediate family, few knew about the circumstances that preceded his sudden return.

His friend Krisztina Kovacs, who was about a decade younger than him, and 21 years old at the time of her death, he knew while still banned in Germany, where he studied German.

They met in Bonn in February 2018, and a short time later the two already announced their romantic relationship on Facebook.

Christina's friends describe her as an energetic, motivated young woman who loved languages.

She studied German and Spanish at university in Hungary and later also Arabic, perhaps due to familiarity.

She played the violin, loved sports and since she was about 14 participated in many youth exchange programs all over Europe.

In Hungary she was also a volunteer who always helped the foreign students.

A year before her murder, she spent three months as a volunteer in Bodrum, Turkey, and organized an international dance festival.

Then she received scholarships and studied in Germany for a summer semester in Heidelberg, and another semester at Goethe University in Frankfurt.

"It was really important for her to get to know different cultures, travel around the world and meet foreign people. She believed in equality," her friend eulogized her.

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To the full article

Loved to travel around the world and believed in equality.

Christina Kovac with Tawfik was banned in Israel (photo: official website, use according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)

Shortly before the murder, Christina ended the relationship.

Banned in a triple photo with his girlfriend and her mother (photo: official website, use according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

The romance between the two blossomed.

In August 2018 Nasara brought Kovac to Israel to get to know his family in Israel, and the country.

They celebrated the Feast of Sacrifice with the family, and he took her on trips to Rosh Hankara, Haifa and Jaffa.

They rode motorcycles and took pictures together wherever they went.

His family here welcomed her warmly, and she adopted a local narrative.

"People ask me how Israel is and I answer that Palestine is great," she wrote on Instagram under a photo of herself in Clock Square in Jaffa and added a bomb emoji.

The problem for the two was the opposition of her mother in Hungary to their relationship.

This, as it turns out, is "due to Tawfik's aggressive and jealous behavior" towards Christina, and his desire to isolate her from men, and from her mother, Monika Kakai, who lived in southwestern Hungary, in the city of Kaposv'ar, where her mother ran a cafe.

From the mother's computer it emerged that the daughter was in contact with others before and during the contact with Nasra.

The testimony of Christina's friends shows that shortly before her murder, Christina did end the relationship with Nasara.

On October 5, he rented a separate apartment for himself in the city, but they kept in touch.

There is testimony that the day before the murder they met with an insurance consultant and somehow, on the tragic night of October 21, 2018, he was allowed to do it again in the mother and daughter's apartment.

According to the extradition request, this was a tragic mistake that cost them their lives.

In the extradition request, it was stated that in the dead of night he strangled the mother and daughter to death, and then set fire to the apartment, trying to cover up what had happened.

He went out to the balcony, called for help and called the fire department, who arrived at the apartment and found the door locked from the inside, and the key was stuck in the lock.

When the fire department managed to get in, they found him and the mother and daughter in their beds, lifeless.

"People ask me how Israel is, and I say that Palestine is great."

Christina Kovac at the border crossing at Rosh Hankara (photo: official website, use according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)

That morning Nasara was questioned as a witness.

He told the investigators that he met Christina in a cafe and then they went to the apartment.

According to him, Christina's mother returned around 20.00-21.00 and left again at midnight.

According to his testimony, he did not know that she was in the apartment at all, but only after the fire.

He stated that he was sleeping in the same bed with Christina on the outside, he woke up early in the morning from a noise he didn't know what they were talking about and ran to the balcony.

He returned to the apartment and tried to pull Christina but he was heavy, there was smoke and he didn't succeed.

He ran to the balcony and started calling for help.

Then when he tried to return to the apartment again he could no longer find her because the smoke was too thick.

Among other things, he said that he intended to stay for the funeral, but according to the Prosecutor General in Hungary, he left Hungary for neighboring Serbia by car, and the very day after his testimony, on October 23, 2018, he took off from Belgrade to Israel.

After his departure he made arrangements to move his belongings from the rented apartment in Kapushwar.

In Israel, in July 2020, Nasra, who has no criminal record, managed to get involved in a violent incident at a gas station complex in Majd Al Khrom, injuring another man in the head with sticks attached to a nunchaku-like chain.

As a result, the man fell to the ground with blood oozing from his head, and sought medical treatment.

In the Acre Magistrate's Court he claimed that "his behavioral failure was probably due to his poor mental state at the time".

Maybe now you can understand why.

Judge Jenny Tanos sentenced him to seven months in prison.

But he remained in custody due to the extradition request from Hungary that arrived in the meantime.

In Hungary, the suspicion against Nasra was formed after three fire experts determined that the fire broke out as a result of the deliberate ignition of three or four different and independent centers, using a tool with a visible flame, which has not been found to this day, and that the fire did not spread from one center to another.

They ruled out the possibility that the fire broke out as a result of a short circuit in one of the electrical appliances in the apartment, or from a candle that was placed on the windowsill.

Their opinions were attached to the extradition request.

Nasra brought Christina to Israel to meet his family.

The two near the Baha'i gardens in Haifa (photo: official website, use according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

Nasra's version that he tried to return to Christina's room to save her was also ruled out by the fire experts.

In the attached memorandum it was stated that he himself did not suffer any burns, there were no signs of soot on him and the level of carbon dioxide in his blood was actually zero, all this contrary to his testimony that he ran to the balcony to cry for help, but then tried to rescue Christina more than once.

An expert opinion appointed by the court in Hungary states that the mother was suffocated first, and then her room was set on fire.

Then the perpetrator took Christina's life and set fire to her room.

The autopsy findings of the two bodies revealed hemorrhages in the neck, chest and leg, which were caused by the application of an external force while they were still alive, which raises the hypothesis that they were suffocated with a soft material such as a pillow, so that they lost consciousness, and after another minute to three minutes they died.

Medical opinions rule out the possibility that the two women died as a result of carbon dioxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation in the fire, and the possibility of death as a result of natural circumstances.

Also, according to the doctors' opinion, signs of trauma and burns were found on the victims that occurred before their death.

It is claimed that the opinion shows a clear picture according to which the two were attacked and finally suffocated and their death was not caused solely by inhaling incendiary materials, if at all.

Under the fingernails of Monica, the mother, DNA was found.

of Nasra, a silent hint of struggle.

Loved sports, played the violin and organized an international dance festival.

Image from a page prepared in memory of Christina Kovacs (photo: official website, use according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

But the investigation proceeded lazily.

Only five months after the incident, in March 2019, the district court in Kapushwar issued an arrest warrant for Tawfiq Nasra for the offenses attributed to him.

Since he did not return, he was tried in his absence, convicted, and in January of this year he was sentenced to life imprisonment, which in Hungary means at least 40 years in prison before he can ask for release.

He was also ordered to pay legal expenses of five million forints (about NIS 43 thousand).

Since Asara was a citizen of Israel and a resident of Israel at the time of the offenses, he is entitled according to Section 1A of the Extradition Law to serve his sentence in Israel, as long as he is convicted and sentenced to prison.

Following his escape, the Hungarian authorities submitted to Israel a request to extradite Nasra to stand trial there for murder and endangering the public.

In February 2021, after the Minister of Justice, Gideon Sa'ar, ordered it, the International Department of the State Attorney's Office submitted a petition in which the court was asked to declare a ban on extradition to Hungary.

In October 2021, the district court accepted the petition, and in July 2022, Nasara's appeal against his extradition declaration was rejected.

He was extradited to Hungary together with another wanted person, in a joint operation by the Hungarian authorities, the Interpol unit of the Israel Police and the Israeli Security Service. Nasra's extradition case was handled by Attorney Tam Wind from the International Department of the State Attorney's Office, in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Interpol unit.

The response of lawyers Avi Himi and Kobi Abitbol: "We believe that we were able to show the weakness of the evidence against our client and that there is great doubt whether he would have stood trial in the State of Israel. However, unfortunately, the extradition procedures in Israel are technical in nature and in their current form there was no way to prevent his extradition to Hungary We hope that the Israeli Knesset will be able to make a fundamental change in the extradition laws and stop extraditing citizens, as many countries in the Western world do."

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