Pre-trial detention of 83-year old woman ordered in her absence

An ill, 83 year-old lady, whose pre-trial detention was ordered in her absence by the Tatabánya Municipal Court in a criminal investigation that has been ongoing for almost eight years has been held at the Budapest Penitentiary for almost two weeks. According to medical reports, she suffers from a serious heart condition. The pre-trial detention was ordered despite the fact that the Constitutional Court of Hungary pronounced unconstitutional and nullified with immediate effect the section of procedural law that allowed for arrest in the absence of the accused in its decision 10/2007. (III. 7.) AB, in accordance with the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and international agreements. Thus the arrest of the lady – who had been transported to the penitentiary from a hospital – should not even have been ordered in the first place, so her detention was a violation of her rights.

The Komárom-Esztergom County Court rejected the appeal against the pretrial detention order. On 17 April 2009 the HHC’s lawyer motioned once again to revoke the pre-trial detention order. During the hearing the Tatabánya Municipal Court revoked the pre-trial detention order of the lady, however the prosecutor appealed against the decision. With the help of the Helsinki Committee’s lawyer, the lady filed a complaint at the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights about the circumstances of the decision ordering her pre-trial detention.