Anybody may become defenceless in the face of the state’s power.
In June 2008 the HHC sent a public interest information request to all Budapest-based police stations to find out in how many cases the police had appointed ex officio defense counsels in mandatory defense cases … Read more
Authors: András Kádár, Júlia Körner, Zsófia Moldova, Balázs Tóth
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2008
ISBN: 978-963-88228-1-9
Author: Ildikó Ritter
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2008
ISBN: 978-963-87757-2-6
Lifelong imprisonment without the possibility of parole (actual life sentence) was introduced into Hungarian criminal law in 1998. Hungary and the UK are the only EU Member States whose legal system makes it possible to impose a so-called “actual life sentence” on perpetrators of serious crimes.
Comments of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee: The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s comments to the Third Report on Hungary by ECRI (26 March 2008) The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s comments regarding the developments following the Second Report on Hungary by ECRI … Read more
Partly as a result of the HHC’s advocacy efforts, a new body for examining complaints against the police, the Independent Police Complaints Board (IPCB) was established by a June 2007 amendment of the Police Act. … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has been advocating for the ratification and the proper implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Below the most important steps and developments of the project can be consulted.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee takes part in a comparative research project ‘Effective Defence Rights in the European Union and Access to Justice: Investigating and Promoting Best Practices’ project. The project is the initiative of four … Read more
Authors: András Kádár, Balázs Tóth, István Vavró
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2007
ISBN: 978 963 86959 6 3
The Hungarian system of complaints against unlawful police action has been criticised being dysfunctional due to systemic and procedural reasons. The most important flaw was that the police rather than an independent body decided all … Read more
The lack of an efficient criminal legal aid system is especially detrimental to indigent pre-trial detainees and defendants in general. Fair and effective access to criminal justice to those who cannot afford to retain a … Read more
Documents related to the Fourth Periodic Report of Hungary
ID check is the most frequently used police measure in Hungary: on average, more than 1.5 million checks have been conducted in recent years. However, the practice of ID checks has not been analyzed so far. Therefore, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee sought to assess the typical grounds of ID checks and the efficiency of this police measure in the framework of a project financially supported by the European Commission’s AGIS Program and the Open Society Institute. It was also examined whether there is a discriminatory tendency regarding ID checks, namely if members of the Roma minority are ID checked in unjustified and disproportionate numbers compared to their non-Roma peers.
The UN Independent Expert on minority issues (IEMI), Ms Gay McDougall paid a visit to Hungary in late June 2006. The HHC met with the Independent Expert and presented a briefing paper on issues related … Read more
Control(led) Group – Final Report on the Strategies for Effective Police Stop and Search (STEPSS) Project
Author: András Mink
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2005
ISBN: 963 86959 1 9
Analysing the system of ex officio appointed defense counsels
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s comments regarding the second monitoring cycle on Hungary under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (20 September 2004)
Author: András Kádár
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2004
ISBN: 963 216 939 5
Authors: János Eörsi, Zsuzsa Jelencsics, András Kádár, Iván Mándli, János Somogyi
Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2002
ISBN: 963 00 9509 2