EU Court: Hungary to pay compensation to a refugee for assault

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled against the Hungarian state on Thursday. In 2016, the Hungarian police brutally assaulted a Pakistani refugee. The prosecutor’s office did not open an investigation at the time. The Hungarian state must pay the victim EUR 20,000 in compensation.

The assault of the refugee

24.hu writes that on 12 August 2016, the 30-year-old Khurram Shahzad, a client of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, was assaulted along with other foreigners by police officers who “escorted” them to the other side of the border fence. They were kicked, and beaten with metal and rubber batons and tonfa. The Helsinki Committee writes that the investigating prosecutor’s office had a lot of hard evidence at its disposal. However, as expected, it did not investigate the perpetrators.

The evidence

One such piece of evidence is a video recorded by the police themselves, which emerged after Khurram Shahzad’s complaint. There is a picture taken shortly after the assault that shows him with a bloody head. He went to the hospital in Subotica, where his condition was examined. In addition, his two head injuries required stitches. He also managed to remember the exact five-digit identification number of one of the police officers and even said that he had three stars on his shoulder pad. However, that was not enough for the prosecution.

The ruling

The European Court of Human Rights in its ruling states that there was no effective investigation into the case. In addition, the State did not provide an acceptable explanation for Khurram Shahzad’s injuries. The court also ruled that the man had been ill-treated by Hungarian police officers. This is a rare occurrence, according to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee: in cases of ill-treatment, the ECHR practice is to condemn the state for inadequate investigation. However, in Shahzad’s case, the evidence, the contradictory statements of the police officers, the video footage, and the complete lack of evidence of explanation for the abuse convinced the court. The court believes that the abuse took place in the way the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s client claims.

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