Hungarians smuggling refugees to Austria convicted

According to vs.hu, the two Hungarian people smugglers received prison sentence, who transported 26 refugees to Austria in inhumane conditions at the beginning of June.

The prime accused, a 46 year-old man from Budapest was sentenced to two years, of which he must serve 6 months, his 42 year-old accomplice received 12 months of suspended prison sentence. The two suspects, who have already committed crime in Hungary, confessed which was taken into account as a mitigating circumstance by the court.

The two men were arrested in Eugendorf, Salzburg province on June 5. The police stopped the van with Hungarian license plates here and they found 26, mostly Syrian people in its 4 sqm-cargo. One of the refugees said they traveled 11 hours without stop, food and drink.

The two Hungarian men denied before the court that they would have transported the refugees in poor conditions. According to the prime accused’s testimony, who is engaged in transportation in Hungary, they were aware that the transport is illegal but he would have driven the car only from Graz to Eugendorf, he would have handed over the steering wheel someone else in the fast food restaurant parking lot of the settlement. He has likely received the commission by a Romanian man, vs.hu said.

The defendant said: he knew that it’s about 8-10 refugees, not 26. He realized the fact that there are much more people in the car as he knew when he heard pounding from behind and stopped at a highway service area. His 42 year-old companion said in his confession that they were preparing carbonated mineral water to the travelers, but they wanted to drink still water. According to the man, the rear of the vehicle ventilated and the migrants said they could endure until Salzburg.

In the car, the police found EUR 2300 (more than HUF 700 000), which is the own money of the prime accused, according to him. The verdict is not final. Human trafficking is punishable by two years’ imprisonment under Austrian law. However, one can receive up to five years imprisonment, if one did smuggling as a business activity or one kept the affected people in inhumane conditions.

based on the article of vs.hu
translated by BA

Source: http://vs.hu