Top court clears camerawoman who kicked migrants of disorderly conduct charges

The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, on Tuesday cleared a camerawoman who kicked and tripped up migrants who broke through a police cordon near the Röszke border station in September 2015 of disorderly conduct charges.

In a statement, the Kúria noted that the camerawoman was covering the illegal migration situation near the Serbian-Hungarian border and kicked two migrants running past police officers and attempted to kick a third one.

The Kúria found that the first and second-instance courts that handed down verdicts in the case had violated the rules of criminal material law when they found the defendant guilty and sentenced her to probation.

The court ruled that the camerawoman’s actions did not constitute anti-social behaviour, and therefore could not be classified as disorderly conduct.

At the same time, the Kúria declared her actions to be unlawful and “morally disapprovable”, adding that they constituted rowdy behaviour, which counts as a misdemeanor.

The Kúria, however, ruled to close the case, noting that the statute of limitations on the misdemeanor had expired.

Last year, a Szeged court found the camerawoman guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced her to three years’ probation in a binding ruling.

The camerawoman was at the border filming footage for online channel N1TV.

Featured image: www.youtube.com/euronews

Source: MTI