Topic: Justice

As of 15 September 2015 three new provisions were introduced to the Criminal Code, which violate the human rights of the refugees concerned. Short analysis of the HHC.

Promoting access to case materials of defendants and their defense counsels in criminal proceedings has been a long-standing priority of the HHC, and is related to activities involving a series of successful applications submitted to … Read more

“If arrested, you cannot appeal your detention if you do not understand how you should do it, or that you’re even entitled to it. Knowing your rights during your detention is fundamental to a fair … Read more

Fair Trials and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee organized a practitioner training on 19-21 June in Budapest attended by lawyers from Croatia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Hungary. The training provided presentations delivered by experts of the Fair Trials on the roadmap directives and a forum for discussion about the relevant practical experiences of the participating lawyers.

In its judgment issued today, the European Court of Human Rights set out that Hungary should produce within six months a plan for reducing overcrowding in its penitentiaries. The judgment concluded that the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment was violated with regard to the applicants detained in overcrowded cells, three of them being the clients of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

The HHC submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe with regard to the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to the overcrowding in Hungarian penitentiaries.

Increasing the Capacity of Law Enforcement Authorities to Tackle Racist Crime, Hate Crime and Homophobic Crime through Experiential Learning

Ill-treatment has been prohibited by international and regional instruments and conventions for many decades. Yet torture and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of state officials, and particularly those engaged in … Read more

On 17 September, a juvenile client of the HHC was set free after 13 months of pre-trial detention imposed for the alleged robbery of a T-shirt. The HHC turned to Strasbourg in the case earlier on.

Summary of HHC main human rights concerns

As an implementing partner organization of Fair Trials International the HHC is launching its new project to provide a unique evidence-base about the practice of pre-trial detention.

The HHC was a partner of Fair Trials International in the “Practitioner Training on Roadmap Directives” project, partially funded by the European Union. The overall objective of this project was to provide defence lawyers from … Read more

The HHC has been an implementing partner organization of Fair Trials in the project titled “The Practice of Pre-Trial Detention: Monitoring Alternatives and Judicial Decision-Making”, with funding from the European Commission, which aimed to provide a unique evidence-base about … Read more

The European Court of Human Rights hold in its decision issued today that actual life-long imprisonment as existing in Hungary constitutes inhuman and degrading punishment, thus it violates the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision confirms the concerns of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee expressed earlier, and may result in a change in the law.

Authors: Anna Bárdits, András Kristóf Kádár, Nóra Novoszádek, Bori Simonovits, Dóra Szegő, Dániel Vince – Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest, 2014, ISBN 978-615-5215-24-7

Legal background material and the law in English

The opinion of the HHC regarding the suggestion of governing party politicians on rules of pre-trial detention

Briefing paper of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (October 2013) Addititonal information of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding the unlimited … Read more

According to the media and a short video tape policemen applied coercive measures on individuals at savaria festival in szombathely. Based on publicly accessible information, infringement of individuals’ rights may have taken place. It is possible to provide an assessment of the measures adopted by the police force based on facts revealed in a legal procedure.

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.