Pegasus case

HCLU takes coordinated domestic and foreign legal action

The secret services have essentially unlimited data collection powers in Hungary. There are no strict conditions for surveillance, and even these are not subject to independent control. The Pegasus case has shown that this is not a theoretical problem: the telephones of Hungarian citizens were hacked without any national security reason. Yet it is a natural and basic need of every human being to have a domain of their life to which no one has access, except for themselves. We cannot talk about human dignity where we become completely transparent to the state. That is why we have decided to take action in all possible fora on behalf of those affected by the Pegasus case, in order to prevent politically motivated surveillance.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

It has been a year since the Pegasus scandal broke out, and developments in the case have since then demonstrated that even surveillance that breaches fundamental rights can comply with the letter of the law in Hungary. Representing seven people affected by the scandal, we are taking their cases to all possible Hungarian and international forums to fight against these unlawful practices. These are our takeaways from the past year.

Power security instead of national security: how the state abuses intelligence surveillance

In our short film we explore how secret services can become a political weapon in the hands of the authorities in Hungary and what should be done to change this unlawful situation. Alongside HCLU's legal experts and clients involved in surveillance cases, the film also features András Dezső, a journalist who regularly covers the workings of the secret services.

FOREIGN PROCEDURES

As there are several international aspects to the abuses—the spyware was produced by an Israeli company and an EU citizen living in Hungary was targeted with it—we are also launching international proceedings.

HUNGARIAN PROCEDURES

We are launching a series of proceedings against the Constitutional Protection Office (CPO) under the Ministry of the Interior and the Information Office (IO) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to bring these abuses to light and to bring justice to our clients.