Political analysts discuss death penalty issue

Budapest, April 30 (MTI) – A debate on the death penalty could be useful, and politically it would be a mistake to reject it, analysts said on public Kossuth Radio on Thursday.

Asked if the death penalty was a taboo subject in the EU, Tibor Attila Nagy, analyst at Meltanyossag, said EU treaties and human rights charters prohibit the death sentence. But, he added, in France the far right does address this issue, just recently after terrorist attacks in Paris.

Tamas Lanczi, head analyst at Szazadveg, said the opposition of the death penalty is the opinion of European elites, but opinion polls show that this is not at all the opinion of the average voter.

“Elites try to avoid this subject because they don’t have a strong position and they would have to go against their voters. Elites oppose, the average European supports the death penalty,” Lanczi said.

However Nagy said the debate could be counterproductive if voters realise that Hungarian and international laws do not allow the restoration of the death sentence. He added that if a debate does go ahead, it could be in parliament or outside of it.

“It could work for Fidesz to divert attention from other issues and take some wind out of Jobbik’s sail,” he said.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been criticised at home and abroad for his remarks on the issue made in the wake of a brutal murder of a young tobacconist in southwest Hungary. Orban on Tuesday said that the issue of restoring capital punishment should be “kept on the agenda” as even strict “three strikes” laws and real life sentences have been unable to deter criminals.

Photo: pixabay

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters