Anybody may become defenceless in the face of the state’s power.
Hungarian prisons are overcrowded again, with the highest prison population in 33 years. The steady increase is worrying: on 31 December 2022, there were more than 19 thousand incarcerated people in Hungary, leaving the prison … Read more
The reduction of the overcrowding of Hungarian prisons is a legitimate aim, however it is yet to be seen how the necessary guarantees, such as access to quality legal aid, and interpretation, and the assessment of non-refoulement are secured for foreign detainees.
Rule of law backsliding affects all policy areas and all areas of life, including the performance of law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system. With a view to the stakeholder consultation regarding the European … Read more
Are you a lawyer, passionate about protecting fundamental rights across Europe, and eager to develop your skills and knowledge to unlock the power of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter)? If so, STARLIGHT is for you.
Upon the call of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee submitted an input for the Special Rapporteur’s thematic report “The duty to investigate … Read more
The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers on the execution of a 2015 pilot judgment on inadequate detention conditions in Hungarian prisons and the remaining issues of the related compensation system. The … Read more
The Support Network for Detainees and their Families (FECSKE) has launched its first mental health support group for the loved ones of people detained in prisons. With this support group, FECSKE helps relatives identify their … Read more
The HHC found that Hungary has failed to achieve any tangible progress with regard to preventing, investigating and sanctioning ill-treatment by the police since last year, and so continues failing to execute the respective judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
In 2013, Dávid Vig, a Hungarian citizen, was subject to a police ID check and a search of his outer clothing during a cultural festival held at a community centre in Budapest. Nothing incriminating was … Read more
The ratio of people in prisons within the population of Hungary is rather high in comparison to European countries.
It is without precedent in Hungary’s penitentiary system that convicts were only allowed to have visitors in merely four months in the past two years. In the rest twenty months, no one was permitted to have any kind of visitor under any condition. Even if this unjustifiable restriction ends in May 2022, the accumulated problems of the past years caused by the unnecessarily strict criminal policy will not be solved. Today, forty thousand children are being deprived of their right to family life.
Out of 275 applicants, the Support Network for Detainees and their Families was selected as the one of the 15 best and most innovative nominees and have won a jury prize of €2,000 at SozialMarie – Prize for Social Innovation yesterday.
The HHC has long been reporting on issues related to unnecessary restrictions of detainees’ contact with the outside world to the CPT. For the past years, there has been a systemic overuse of COVID-lockdown measures … Read more
We compiled a factsheet on issues hindering good family contact of detainees in Hungary. Why is detainees’ contact with the outside world important? Contact with family members promotes the reintegration of prisoners and the prevention … Read more
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee released its documentary film By the Power of the Force on its YouTube channel. The subject of the film is the largely unpunished mass police violence of 2006 and its aftermath. The film by civil rights activists shows that the domestic judiciary still fails to prevent, detect and punish police violence to this day.
In its communication submitted to the Committee of Ministers, the HHC warns again that Hungary has been failing to address systemic deficiencies with regard to handling ill-treatment by the police, and so has been failing to execute the respective judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
A special criminal trial has begun in the Pest Central District Court. The accused man, now 35 years old, was sexually molested by his priest several times since the age of 13. This counts as a crime, and amounts to sexual violence against a child. Yet the Catholic priest remained unpunished under secular criminal law. Meanwhile, Attila Pető, the former victim, is now being threatened by criminal sanction
After 16 months, it is finally possible to visit detainees in person again, but only under severe and unjustified restrictions. Children are still not allowed to visit their parents. According to press reports, detainees can … Read more
The outburst of the coronavirus pandemic triggered a robust militarisation process in Hungary. As a response to the COVID-19 infection, the Hungarian government has not only vested the military forces with new, extraordinary powers during … Read more
Visits to penitentiaries have been banned for more than a year since the outbreak of the pandemic in Hungary. Consequently, no personal contact has burdened detainees and their family members. Alternative forms of communication, such … Read more