Hungarian minister: Hungary’s justice system ‘one of the most independent’

Hungary’s justice system is highly advanced in terms of its independence and it is completely independent of the government, the justice minister told a conference in Budapest on Thursday.

Bence Tuzson said the independence of the judiciary was a priority in Hungary and consultations with the European Union had yielded “serious changes”, the effects of which were still in question. The justice ministry, on the other hand, stood ready for negotiations, he told an international conference organised by the Kúria’s (supreme court) István Werbőczy Research Institute.

Tuzson said judicial independence entailed judges doing their work free from interference and only being subordinated to laws. But a judge’s work, he added, must not happen in isolation from society, as was sometimes the case in the EU. Meanwhile, the minister questioned whether the right to a fair trial was fully enforced at the European court of justice.

Photo: MTI

András Zs Varga, the Kúria’s head, said the domestic basis of judicial independence had been assessed, and now it was time to deal with its international aspects, too. He also said a judge should not tolerate interference in his work in court and no one else should have sway over it.

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1 Comment

Norbert says:

24/09/2024 at 15:01

Our judiciary “completely independent”? Mr. Tuzson must have missed the passing of the Omnibus Act?

“On 30 April 2024, the Hungarian Parliament adopted Act XVII of 2024 on the Amendment of Laws related to Justice Matters (Omnibus Act). With effect from 9 July 2024, the Omnibus Act introduced new provisions modifying Act CLXI of 2011 on the Organisation and Administration of Courts (OAC) and Act CLXIII of 2011 on the Prosecution Service (PSA). The new provisions grant the MoJ unlimited access to final and binding or conclusive court decisions and decisions taken by the Prosecution Service (PS) as well as decisions of investigating agencies.

It is important to note that access is not only granted to final and binding (in Hungarian ‘jogerős’) court decisions but to all conclusive (in Hungarian ‘végleges’) court decisions, which settle a particular matter in a decisive manner without finally shutting up the whole legal dispute. The newly inserted sections are twin provisions allowing the MoJ unlimited access to court decisions and decisions of the prosecution service, and through both, to decisions of any other autonomous authority and state organ.”

https://helsinki.hu/en/a-saurons-eye-in-the-hungarian-judicial-system/

Some pretty ugly examples listed in this analysis, worth the read.