Case of Jenő Sz.

We have already reported the story of the families in Bereg who were victims of the floods but were not been allowed to move to village Gy. because of to their Romani origin[1]. Since this extremely muddled case is still pending – mostly due to the authorities’ attitude and unwillingness to act – we are reporting on it again now. We are doing this because no decision has been reached yet and new facts have come to light.

To sum up the previous events:

In 2002 we were contacted by Csaba K.’s family from village Gy. because their life in the village had been turned into hell because they wanted to sell their house to a Romani family who had been the victims of floods. As it turned out, the mayor and the clerk of the settlement did not shy away from organizing village meetings or from direct threats to deter the sellers. The slogan of the leaders of the community and the agitated population was that “Gypsies cannot move to the main street”. Due to the lynch-mob atmosphere, the Romani buyer, Mrs. Bertalan N. withdrew from the purchase and bought another house of lower quality somewhere else. The sellers, the non-Romani Csaba K. and his family have still not been able to move away and their lives have  become almost unbearable ever since.

We filed charges for intimidation against a member of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group[2] and abuse of official powers[3] against unidentified perpetrators. Furthermore, we filed a civil case against the village council and its mayor and clerk for damages caused by a state administration office and the violation of personal rights. We lost the civil case  and the criminal procedure was terminated by the investigating authority.

After we had failed before all fora, Jenő Sz. and his family, to whom a similar case happened in the same village, contacted us. They also wanted to buy a new house using  state compensation, but were deterred by threats from the mayor and the clerk.

Jenő Sz. and his family had already signed the contract on the house of Endre T. and his wife, but – because of the hostile atmosphere and the ongoing threats of the leaders of the village – rescinded the contract without letting the sellers know and bought a house somewhere else. In this case, the sellers filed a claim against the Romani family, since afterwards they were only able to sell their house for much less and suffered significant financial loss. Jenő Sz. and his wife were represented by our Bureau before the court. Later the plaintiffs initiated a stay of proceedings: it turned out that they wanted compensation from the mayor and the clerk. Since nobody requested the reinstatement of the proceedings, they were terminated.

However, previously unknown facts and statements incriminating the mayor and the clerk came to light from both parties and the witnesses. This was justification enough for our Bureau to inform the Prosecutor’s Office of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and request the reinstatement of the previously terminated investigation in the cases of Csaba K. and Mrs. Bertalan Sz. against the leaders of the village. At the same time, we noted in our petition that should the Prosecutor’s Office see no possibility of reinstating the investigation, the petition should be considered as a new, separate complaint and that a new investigation of the case should be initiated.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office passed on our petition to the Prosecutor’s Office of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. The prosecutor’s office, after apparently reading our petition only superficially, informed us that the complaint was not well founded and that the investigation could not be reinstated. We noted that our petition also contained a new complaint and so, therefore, the prosecutor’s office had two choices in this situation: it could reject the charges through a formally correct resolution, or it could initiate a criminal procedure[4]. Thus, we requested the prosecutor’s office to take measures accordingly and either pass a formal decision rejecting the complaint[5] or, if there was no reason for doing so, order the initiation of an investigation.

Following these remarks by NEKI, the head of the Prosecutor’s Office of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County informed the Bureau on 24 November 2003 that an investigation of abuse of official powers had been initiated and assigned to the Police Department of town V.  While trying to avoid appearing to be continuously dissatisfied, we would only like to enquire gently as to why prosecutor’s office had to wait for weeks and months to take measures legal basis of which is clearly stated in the procedural orders.

Thus, according to the information from the prosecutor’s office, an investigation of abuse of official powers was initiated. The documents, data and evidence collected so far, however, clearly show that, besides the crime of the abuse of official powers, intimidation against a member of an ethnic group had been committed as well. We drew the attention of the head of the office to this fact, but he rejected our remark saying that the well-founded suspicion of a crime cannot be “presumed”[6]; it either exits or it does not, according to the evidence. He assured us that if information indicating such a crime were to be found, the investigating authority would take the necessary measures.

The Police Department of C. town questioned Jenő Sz. and his wife numerous times and interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Endre T. as witnesses as well. All the witnesses repeated their testimonies given during the civil procedure[7]. They all confirmed that the mayor and the clerk had visited both families every day trying to prevent the purchase. Mrs. Endre T. also showed the authorities an official document in which the mayor of village Gy. put the following in writing:

“I, the undersigned, Mayor [...], hereby promise that I will do everything in my power to help Endre T. and his family move away from the neighbourhood where they live. This promise is conditional upon the fact that Endre T. and his wife withdraw from the contract with Jenő Sz. from village J.”

The document was titled “Statement”, signed by the mayor and the Mr. and Mrs. Endre T., and stamped with the official stamp of the mayor’s office. In our view, this should be considered evidence that could have made the establishment of facts providing the basis for the procedure significantly easier. Through this document, the mayor himself has provided evidence that he, as a public official, actively collaborated to prevent the completion of a contract between private individuals.

After this, the Police Department of town V. did not terminate the investigation, but transferred it to the Police Department of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. It took the standpoint that, based on the facts, the crime committed was not one of abuse of official powers but one of intimidation against a member of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The investigation of such a crime, however, falls under the jurisdiction of the county police department[8].

After the transfer of the case, Attorney László Bihary, the representative of Jenő Sz. and his wife, suggested to the County Police Department that they include abuse of official powers in the investigation as well. According to the standpoint of the representative and NEKI, these two crimes are not mutually exclusive, and the information from the proceedings suggest that the perpetrators committed both crimes.

Thus, the criminal procedure took a new direction: while earlier, during the investigation of the abuse of official powers, NEKI argued that intimidation against a member of an ethnic group has been committed as well, after the turn we requested the investigation of the “original crime” of the abuse of official powers. It seemed incomprehensible as to why the police and the prosecutor’s office did not consider both crimes, based on the available evidence.

After this, the representative pointed out in his petition to the police department that at the then current state of investigation it was inconceivable that the crime previously thought of as abuse of official powers could be “reclassified” as intimidation against a member of an ethnic group in a such way that the established facts of the crime of the abuse of official powers would simply “vanish” and the carrying out of this latter offence would no longer be investigated by the authorities.

The County Police Department, however, presumably after consulting with the prosecutor’s office, upheld its position that only intimidation against a member of an ethnic group should be investigated and the documents and the indictment should be transferred. We have to mention, however, that after the procedures taking years, this was a great result for us.

It is also worth mentioning that the suspects refused to testify in the case.

Following the indictment by the Prosecutor’s Office of town V., the City Court scheduled a trial, but ordered the transfer of the case to the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Court before the commencement of the hearings. This was probably due to the fact that having examined the documents and NEKI’s petitions, the judge of the City Court reached the conclusion that the two crimes (abuse of official powers, intimidation against a member of an ethnic group) could be committed simultaneously, as had happened in this case in our opinion. Since the abuse of official powers formed part of the facts of crime, the City Court determined its lack of jurisdiction and transferred the case to the County Court.

The hearing took place at the County Court on 8 December 2004. The accused testified and denied the crimes. Their testimonies, however, were not based on facts; they contained only general statements. Both tried to create the impression that NEKI had falsely tried to initiate proceedings against them. Mr. and Mrs. Jenő Sz., Mr. and Mrs. Endre T. were also questioned and repeated their previous testimonies with no changes. The testimonies given by the mayor and vice-mayor of village J., by the representative of the local minority government and the colleague of the disaster protection directorate were significant in that they did not mention the threats by the accused.

The representative of the prosecutor’s office did not modify the charges.  Despite the summons of the City Court, they do not wish to press charges for abuse of official powers. This has created a rather interesting legal situation: while according to the City Court, NEKI and the representative of the plaintiffs, the established facts are sufficient to include abuse of official powers amongst the charges against the accused, so far the County Court has taken the standpoint that there is no need to modify the charges: only the crime of intimidation against a member of an ethnic community was committed. This is especially strange since at the beginning of the investigation it was the County Prosecutor’s Office that ordered the police to start an investigation precisely because of the abuse of official powers. Another interesting question is, knowing their respective standpoints, why neither the Town Prosecutor’s Office, presenting the indictment, nor the County Prosecutor’s Office, presenting the case in court, requested legal remedy against the summons of the City Court ordering the transfer. In such a case, the County Court can only inform the prosecutor about the possibility of the modification of the charges; it has no power to order the prosecutor to do so or take any other measures. As a consequence, given the present statement of facts, the County Court is hearing a case that is, theoretically, beyond its jurisdiction, since it is the local courts that have jurisdiction over cases of intimidation against a member of an ethnic group.

The hearing continues on the 10 January 2005.