Court to handle internet tax protesters’ case in ordinary proceedings

Budapest (MTI) – The Pest central district court decided on Wednesday to handle the case of five protesters detained after a demonstration against the government’s plan to tax internet use in ordinary proceedings and returned their documents to the public prosecutor’s office, asking it to collect further evidence.

The chief public prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that of the six demonstrators detained on Sunday evening, one has been released and the other five will go to court for fast-track proceedings on Wednesday. They are accused of causing damage to the ruling Fidesz party headquarters.

The court decided that some of the evidence necessary for fast-track proceedings, including the value of the damage caused, were not available. Further, no witnesses were able to turn up for Wednesday’s hearing. The public prosecutor will therefore raise charges in ordinary proceedings.

The prosecutor has proposed preliminary detention for one of the persons who had already been charged with a similar violation earlier but the court ruled that imposing a ban on him to leave his town would be sufficient. The other persons have been released.

After Sunday’s demonstration, some of the protesters pelted stones at the ruling Fidesz party headquarters in Lendvay Street, breaking windows, damaging the blinds and bringing down a section of the fence.

Fidesz group leader Antal Rogán told commercial HírTV on Monday that the people suspected of vandalising the Fidesz headquarters were political activists rather than football hooligans.

“The [opposition] Socialist Party has clearly arranged for this protest through their associates,” he said.

After a session of parliament’s national security committee on Tuesday, Zsolt Molnár, the Socialist head of the body, told journalists that the organisers had aimed at a peaceful demonstration and they bear no responsibility for the violent acts. He added that no information supported allegations that those detained had any connection with politics.

Photo: MTI – Janos Marjai

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