Refugee crisis: "show trials" for "violating the border fence" 30.6.16

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"This report is based on the talk and discussion on an event on of the Röszke trials in Hungary, on refugees accused of violating the border fence during a riot/mass disturbance - which was held in Auróra, Budapest 24th 2016. As our guest, we had Tamas Fazekas, who works for the refugee program at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Fazekas is a criminal lawyer, the defendant of three of the accused, and works for the HHC since 2001. The views expressed in the event and in this blogpost are his own and not representative of the HHC. HHC has unique access to all refugee camps and detention centers in Hungary. They are independent from the Hungarian government and do not receive any project money the EU, and provide free legal aid for people seeking international protection in Hungary."

 

See: Show trial in Hungary: solidarity with the accused in Röszke (Migszol, link)

And: Message from Migszol:

"Dear all,

Some of you might know about the show trials taking place in Hungary at the moment, relating to day when the border fence on the Hungary-Serbia border was completed in September 16th, 2015.

Eleven people are accused by the Hungarian state. There are two trials: one against Ahmed H., accused of a terrorist act, which will continue until October, and another one against 10 more people who are accused of taking part in a mass riot. You might have seen this Channel 4 video on the case, showing some of the accused: a Syrian half-blind elderly woman (the mother of Ahmed H.), and a young Syrian man in a wheelchair.

The trial against the 10 people will continue tomorrow and a verdict will be delivered on Friday. Please see below for the background of the case, based on a discussion with a lawyer who is representing three of them. UNHCR is monitoring the trial, and a collective of solidarity activists from different countries will be showing their support in front of the court house in Szeged, southern Hungary, tomorrow on Thursday, from 8am onwards.

Some of us will be attending the trial, and we will be tweeting from from there - if you want to follow live updates from tomorrow's hearing, follow the Twitter feed of Migszol Csoport.

An English report on the trial of Ahmed H. that took place on Monday will be also circulated tomorrow (for the moment we only have it in Hungarian).

We ask everybody to show solidarity by spreading information about these trials in all your networks, and of course we would be happy to talk to anyone who wants to know more about the case and the situation.

Migszol"

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