Hungary continues failing to comply with ECtHR judgments on life sentence

The HHC has been advocating for the abolishment of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (whole life sentence) in Hungary for over a decade. As part of these efforts, it is monitoring the implementation of related judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), establishing a violation of the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment both with regard to whole life sentence and, in certain cases, life imprisonment with parole, in the case of which the minimum term to be served before being eligible for parole can be set as high as 40 years, in violation of ECtHR standards. The respective group of judgments will be on the agenda of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (in charge of supervising the execution of the ECtHR’s judgments) again in September 2024. The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers ahead of the September meeting to show that the judgments remain unimplemented both with regard to whole life imprisonment and life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

In its submission, reiterating the concerns raised in its communication submitted in 2023, the HHC draws attention to the fact that the Hungarian government has not taken any general measures to date to address the rights violations as pointed out by the judgments in the group of cases, and the respective legal provisions have not been amended in a way that would prevent similar rights violations. Furthermore, a uniformity decision by Hungary’s apex court (the Kúria) and its subsequent practice, coupled with the lack of legal changes, also prevents individual measures that would be required to bring the violations to an end with regard to the applicants, irrespective of the fact that the ECtHR established the violation of the European Convention on Human Rights in their very case.

For these reasons, the HHC recommended the Committee of Ministers to issue an interim resolution in the group of cases as foreshadowed by its September 2023 decision if no tangible progress is achieved in the implementation of the group of cases.

The HHC’s full submission is available here:
NGO communication with regard to the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the László Magyar v. Hungary group of cases (2 August 2024)