On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament voted to trigger proceedings against Hungary under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union on account of the systemic threat to the core values of the EU. A year later, the risk of a serious breach of the EU founding values has increased: Hungarian authorities have continued to silence dissent and run intimidation campaigns against individuals and organizations that want to hold the government accountable.
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Following a judgment concluding that the removal of the Supreme Court President in 2012 was prompted by the criticism he voiced, the CoE called on Hungary to protect the freedom of expression of judges, but to no avail: today, judges are facing retaliatory measures and media attacks once again for voicing professional criticism.
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Alexei Torubarov, who was politically persecuted by the Putin regime, has been recognised as a refugee. Torubarov's victory now gives hope to many other asylum seekers who are being arbitrarily denied asylum.
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The independence of courts is threatened in Hungary. In 2019, a complete redesign of administrative courts is carried out to set up special courts to deal with high-profile cases from taxation to environmental protection to competition to freedom of assembly and asylum cases. On this page, you can find the analyses, opinions and records of activities of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee on the unfolding change of the court system.
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When we turn to the European Court of Human Rights, generally we try to draw attention to those structural problems which are not or cannot be remedied by the Hungarian authorities and courts: dismissal of public officials without justification, inhuman circumstances of detention, or unreasonable deprivation of one’s personal freedom.
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We provide free legal assistance to asylum seekers, stateless persons and unaccompanied minors in Hungary. Reuniting separated families is one of our main objectives. Through our training and research activities, we foster a high-quality, effective and humane asylum procedure – both inside Hungary and in other parts of the world. We combat xenophobia.
We aim at decreasing the defenceless of people: we provide support to those in contact with the police and the penitentiary system, and we provide legal advice and representation to victims of ill-treatment by official persons or other severe abuses. In addition, we regularly monitor prisons and other places of detention in order to make closed institutions more transparent.
People are free in a state where the consequences of their actions are predictable and where clean and transparent rules apply not only to the individuals, but also to state authorities. Where the state power has no clear limits, there is no individual freedom either. It is important for us that the Hungarian democracy operates on the basis of the rule of law – that is why we step up in its defence.
Everybody should be treated equally; however, we still experience discrimination at many areas of life. For example, members of minorities can be victims of hate crime. We primarily provide legal aid for detainees and asylum seekers fighting against discrimination.