On 19 to 21 November, the Director of Human Rights and the Department for the Execution of Judgments carried out a mission to Budapest, organised in close cooperation with the Government Agent’s Office and the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the Council of Europe. The aim of the visit was to discuss several important cases and groups pending under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers.
The delegation met with Mr Örs Farkas, State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, dr Zoltán Viktor Maruzsa, State Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, dr Ákos Kara, Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, as well as with experts from these ministries and from the National Office for the Judiciary, the Prosecution Service of Hungary and the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights.
The discussions focussed on the implementation of the following cases and on possible avenues for future cooperation in this regard: Szabó and Vissy (on secret surveillance measures for national security purposes); Horváth and Kiss and Szolcsán (on discrimination of Roma children in education); István Gábor Kovács/Varga (on poor conditions of detention); Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. (on structural deficiencies in the medical and social care system); Gubacsi (on ill-treatment by law enforcement officers); Vig (on the lack of adequate safeguards regarding so-called “enhanced check” under the Police Act); Shaw/Tonello (on international child abductions); László Magyar group (on the lack of an adequate review mechanism for life sentences); Gazsó group (on excessive length of judicial proceedings); and Kenedi (concerning the authorities’ non-compliance with a domestic court order granting access to documents).
The delegation also met with dr. Nóra Jakubovich, Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, and the staff of the Government Agent’s Office to discuss important general questions regarding the execution of judgments by the Hungarian authorities.
A separate meeting was held with different civil society organisations (including Amnesty International Hungary, Háttér Society, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Rosa Parks Foundation, and Validity Foundation).
