NGOs welcome the court decision according to which the series of attacks against Hungarian Roma in 2008-2008 were racially motivated, but underline that the government still needs to take steps to counter hate crimes.
The police failed to consider that the assault on the Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Association bears an anti-Semitic bias and failed to investigate the incident as hate crime despite the fact that the law provides greater protection for the victims of hate crime. Apparently, the judicial practice presents deficiencies in this area.
Police again fail to properly qualify cases as racial violence. Instead of investigating racial motives and considering recent incidents in Cegléd, violence against a member of a community, focuses on simple rowdyism.
As part of public consultations on the draft Criminal Code, 5 human rights NGOs call for thorough reform of legal provisions on hate crimes.