Political Participatory Rights

Freedom of opinion vs. freedom of assembly

Disappointing news for those who believe in the freedom of expressing opinion: On February 15, 2006 the Court of Pest County (Pest Megyei Bíróság) delivered its final judgment about the two activists of MIEP- Jobbik for holding an unannounced press conference in front of the Ministry of the Interior last summer.

Success for HCLU: freedom of expressing opinion rules!

Péter György represented by András Schiffer, lawyer of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) won the lawsuit against Sándor Fábry in front of the court of the first instance. According to the court the statement made by Péter György – calling the showman racist and accusing him of showing hatred against gypsies - is “on the cutting edge of freedom of expression but it does not exceed its borders.”

HCLU welcomes the court's ruling in the Conscience 88 Group case

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) acknowledges with content that the court already in two cases ruled against the police in the issue of whether the police had lawfully cancelled an event or not.

Court hearing in the case of the “building-occupiers”

The first court hearing for the misdemeanor case of the Centrum Activists Group (Centrum Csoport) was held on January 11, 2006. The group of young people was charged with misdemeanor for occupying an empty building, owned by the local government. The building has been abandoned and neglected by the local government for 5 years. The aim of the occupiers was to set up a cultural, social and art centre in the abandoned building.

International protest against the custody of the demonstrators against the WTO meeting

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) has joined the international campaign organized by civil organizations and private individuals. The campaign is a protest against the brutal behavior towards the “political prisoners” of WTO meeting held in Hong Kong in December.

Declaration of Protest

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) has been informed with revelation that Gatter László, the head of the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, denounced certain leaders of the Communist Party (Munkáspárt) for slander, since one of the court’s sentence, delivered in connection with an internal debate of the Labour Party, was called “political” by the Party’s web site.