Helsinki File: European Court of Human Rights cases

In a shocking report, The Guardian revealed that Hungarian authorities pushed out even severely injured asylum seekers to Serbia. We have been drawing attention to this issue for a long time and continue to provide legal assistance to … Read more

Hungarian authorities forcibly transferred a Yemeni family of seven and an Afghan three-member family to Serbia in 2019. They all applied for asylum at Budapest Airport but were pushed out via the border fence. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled today that the Hungarian state violated the prohibition of collective expulsions and inhuman or degrading treatment. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee represented the asylum seekers, including a child with Down’s syndrome, in the case.

The transit zones have been shut down for three and a half years, but this cruel detention regime did not disappear without a trace, still haunting the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On … Read more

The state must not abandon victims of police ill-treatment, even if they are collectively expelled foreigners. Nor can it grant impunity to abusers in uniform, a Strasbourg Court judgment confirmed yesterday. Hungarian police officers had … Read more

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the detention of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s two asylum seeker clients unlawful in today’s judgement against Hungary. The young men, from Afghanistan and Algeria, were in asylum detention for five and two months, which was not justified for even a single day.

A 14-year-old asylum-seeking child was assaulted by field guards in Ásotthalom and thrown back to Serbia by Hungarian police. A 17-year-old asylum seeker was arbitrarily detained for three months. A 28-year-old torture victim asylum seeker was detained despite severe health problems. All three of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s clients appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, and all won. The Hungarian state violated their human rights and is obliged to pay just reparation.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s client, a 23-year-old Iraqi man, entered Hungary irregularly in 2015. He immediately informed the police that he needs asylum in Hungary. He was then placed in asylum detention, even though the … Read more

Hungarian authorities are responsible for the death of a young Syrian man who drowned in the river Tisza at the Serbian-Hungarian border after police assaulted and pushed him back in 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled today.

The Hungarian state violated the human rights of three Syrian refugees – the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared on December 15. The Hungarian authorities expelled them without properly examining their asylum applications or … Read more

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee reached a milestone in our litigation struggle against Hungary’s indiscriminate and violent push-back policy applied at the Serbian-Hungarian border. In September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it violates the prohibition of collective expulsions and the right to remedy. This is our second victory in Strasbourg concerning this unlawful practice, and it gives us hope for several similar pending cases – and reaching systemic change in this unfair policy.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee together with the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights submitted a third party intervention in the case of Şener v. Poland, appl. no. 53371/18. The case concerns the expulsion of a … Read more

Our client wanting to seek asylum was pushed back to Serbia without any examination of his individual circumstances. 72 000 such cases occurred in the course of 5 years. The Pakistani man’s case was no … Read more

On 15 April 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in a final judgment that the Hungarian State violated Zsombor Csúcs’ human rights when the Prosecutor’s Office did not investigate his abuse by the … Read more

Today the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgement in the case of an Iranian-Afghan family who were held in the transit zone for the entire duration of their asylum procedure in 2017 and released only upon being granted international protection.

C-564/18

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (GC) delivered its judgment in the case of Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungary on 21 November 2019. In its judgment the GC affirmed the Chamber’s … Read more

Ilias and Ahmed, clients of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, have been granted EUR 5,000 each as a compensation of their non-pecuniary damages by the European Court of Human Rights. Their human rights have been violated … Read more

Zsolt Csonka was taken to Sellye police station for questioning as witness in relation to timber theft in February 2013. According to the police record, he waived his right to counsel at the beginning of … Read more

On 15 March, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) again had to issue an emergency decision and order the Hungarian government to give food to migrants in detention in the transit zone at the … Read more

The Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office (IAO) ignored the instructions of domestic courts regarding the placement of applicants in facilities other than the transit zones on several occasions. The IAO also continues its practice of … Read more