Strasbourg: Hungary violated the human rights of even underage migrants

Field guards of Ásotthalom harmed a 14-year-old migrant then police threw him back to Serbia. A 17-year-old migrant was held in custody for three months. A 28-year-old migrant was arrested and held captive despite his health problems. They all turned to the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights and won. Hungary violated their human rights, so Budapest will have to pay compensation, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, their aid during the court process, said.

According to a statement published on their website, those are not the first cases in Strasbourg condemning Hungary concerning the treatment of migrants. The Hungarian authorities take into custody all illegal migrants trying who broke through the Hungarian (and Schengen) border and regularly send them back to Serbia. However, sometimes that process lasts too long and does not have a firm legal basis. Therefore, the Strasbourg court regularly condemns Hungary. For example, a similar verdict was issued two days before the aforementioned cases.

M.M. came from Afghanistan and was 17 when he entered Hungary. He asked for asylum, but authorities held him captive for almost three months. That happened before 2014, when authorities were not entitled to hold an underage person in custody. Later, the teenage boy was transferred to Fót, where he learnt Hungarian, and a Hungarian court acknowledged him as a refugee. Today he lives in a relationship with a Hungarian girl. They raise their child together and operate a buffet.

Refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan turned to Strasbourg

H.N., who was 28 in 2014, was chased away by the Taliban. He suffered from injuries and was under medical treatment. However, Hungarian authorities held him captive for more than three months. Afterwards, he was granted asylum, and still lives and works in Hungary.

R.N. came from Pakistan and was only 14 when he crossed the border in 2017 near Ásotthalom. Field guards caught, harmed and humiliated him. László Toroczkai, the current head of the radical Mi Hazánk party, reported about the issue back then with pride. Afterwards, Hungarian police threw him and ten other illegal migrants back to Serbia.

The statement of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee did not share what the Hungarian state would have to do for compensation towards these three people.