Demonstrators protest imprisonment of ethnic Hungarians in Romania

The self-defined radical nationalist Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement (HVIM) on Wednesday organised a demonstration in Budapest to protest against the Romanian top court’s verdict sentencing two Transylvanian Hungarians to prison for what it called an attempted bomb attack in Targu Secuiesc (Kézdivásárhely) in 2015.

István Beke, local leader of HVIM, and Zoltán SzÅ‘cs, the movement’s Transylvanian leader, were each sentenced to five years in prison for what the Romanian authorities saw as an attempt to detonate a home-made explosive device at the parade on Romania‘s national holiday on December 1. The authorities charged them based on intercepted phone conversations and petards found at Beke’s home.

HVIM co-leader György Gyula Zagyva said at the demonstration that

the Romanian Supreme Court’s verdict was the state’s way of telling Transylvanian Hungarians to abandon their autonomy efforts.

This is also a message to 15 million Hungarians and to the Hungarian government, he said, to drop its support for Szekler autonomy efforts. Unless Hungarians take action over the verdict,

“they can drag away any Hungarians at any time”,

Zagyva said.

HVIM founder and head of the newly-founded Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party László Toroczkai said the case was about Hungarians’ solidarity towards one another. “At stake are the lives of two Hungarians who did nothing, other than have the courage to stand up for Hungarians,” he said.

Photo: MTI

Toroczkai demanded that the Hungarian government speak out for the release of the two men at all international forums.

ROMANIAN COURT PASSES OUTRAGEOUS POLITICAL VERDICT

JPresident of Jobbik Tamás Sneider said in the statement, even though the Bucharest Regional High Court’s ruling of April 7, 2017 has already pointed out the absurdity of the charges,

the Romanian power still wants to make an example of the Szekler patriots who struggle for self-determination.

Jobbik calls upon the Fidesz-Christian Democrat government to immediately take all possible measures so that justice could prevail over the Romanian political intentions in the case of the two Hungarian citizens.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *