HCLU

Definite uneasiness can be felt on the third day of the trial on whether or not to disband the Militiamen Association for a Better Future (MABF), a group responsible for marching and causing fear during the spring of 2011, in the small Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata. The presiding judge, Erika Mucsi is uncertain of the difference between the MABF and the Roma Civil Rights Movement (RCRM), but this isn’t the greatest cause for alarm. Instead of disbanding the group responsible for systematic racial misconduct, she studies the correlation between structural unemployment and crime committed in order to provide food and heating. The HCLU reports on the trial - the mood and the spirit of the trial was completely absurd, as if it had nothing to do with the events in Gyöngyöspata.

“Gyöngyöspata is a frightening example of „law and order”. Do we really want to set this as an example?” – the first sentence of the report already suggests the essence of Ernő Kállai’s observations. In December, the minority ombudsman published his report on public employment, the procedural practice of minor offense authorities, and the state of education in Gyöngyöspata. In his report, Ernő Kállai demonstrates the effects of measures taken on the public morale and the cohabitation of Roma and non-Roma since his investigation in the spring.

Lajos Gubcsi, former Director of Zrínyi Media Ltd. – a background institution of the Ministry of National Defense – initiated a defamation lawsuit against József Spirk, journalist of Index.hu, the leading online news provider in Hungary. The HCLU’s Legal Aid Service provided legal representation. The court ruled that facts written in the article were well-founded and as a result ruled in favor of the journalist. The ruling is final.

Hungarian Europe Society, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Eötvös Károly Public Policy Institute, Standard (Mérték) Media Monitor put forward a joint position paper to the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism created by the European Commission on the Hungarian Media Law and its Application.

The Eötvös Károly Institute, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the HCLU sent an alternative answer to Viviane Reding, European Commission Vice-President, Commissioner in charge of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, with a detailed answer to the questions asked of the Hungarian Government. NGOs state that the government's answers to the serious concerns regarding the independence of the judiciary system and abolition of the Data Protection Commissioner do not prove the government's dedication to democracy and from a professional point of view, its answers are unjustifiable.

The video introduction of HCLU's  'Roma Program not only for Romas'

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) welcomes the December 19th decisions of the Constitutional Court, which – partly due to the HCLU’S motion – found parts of the new media law to be unconstitutional. At the same time, the HCLU regrets that the Constitutional Court did not carry out a full review on the media law, which would have been necessary in order to reinstall freedom of the press in Hungary.