Submission to the Council of Europe on the non-execution of freedom of information judgments

The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Kenedi v. Hungary case, in relation to which the NGOs submitted their present communication, originated in a freedom of information lawsuit brought by the applicant against the Ministry of Interior because the ministry refused to grant him access to documents concerning the Hungarian secret services for the purpose of historical research, and then failed to comply with the domestic court judgment authorising him to access the documents. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the excessive length of the ensuing enforcement proceedings in respect of the judgment authorising the applicant’s access to documents had violated his rights under Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights; concluded that the applicant’s right to freedom of expression (Article 10 of the Convention) had been violated on account of the continued resistance of the authorities to grant the applicant access to the above documents; and that the lack of an effective remedy in this respect also violated the Convention.

In a communication submitted in the case to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2022 in its capacity of supervising the execution of European Court of Human Rights judgments, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee demonstrated that the non-execution of domestic court judgments by state authorities and public bodies in freedom of information cases, along with the lack of effective enforcement of judgments in these cases remains a severe problem in Hungary.

In February 2024, the Hungarian Government submitted its claims to the Committee of Ministers that the Kenedi v. Hungary case “appears to constitute an isolated incident”. However, the Government failed to put forth any kind of evidence that would support this statement, and failed to refute in any meaningful way the research results and experiences of NGOs and attorneys presented in the 2022 NGO communication as regards the systemic non-execution of domestic court judgments by state authorities in freedom of information cases. In addition, the systemic causes behind the non-compliance with freedom of information judgments continue to persist, and have not been addressed by the Government in any way. These include the lack of effective and genuinely coercive enforcement tools, and that the criminal procedures launched for non-compliance with freedom of information judgments rarely lead to indictments. Furthermore, the proceedings for enforcing court decisions suffer from deficiencies in general, reducing their efficiency and accessibility. Finally, in contrast to what is suggested by the Government, the excessive length of enforcement proceedings is not being addressed.

Therefore, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, K-Monitor and Transparency International Hungary argue in their communication that the Hungarian Government has not taken the necessary general measures to prevent the occurrence of similar violations in the future, and, therefore, the judgment in the Kenedi v. Hungary case cannot be considered implemented.

The full NGO submission is available here:

Rule 9(2) communication to the Committee of Ministers in the Kenedi v. Hungary case