The Hungarian government must publicly apologize for the "misleading and false" presentation of facts about a refugee relief organization. That was the verdict of Hungary's highest court, as the organization concerned, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, said.
Accordingly, the court concluded that the government of the right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had damaged the reputation of the committee in an opinion poll in 2017.
At that time, Orbán government emailed a questionnaire to millions of households in the country to raise opinions on an alleged "Soros plan" for Europe-wide refugee influxes. The survey said that the US-billionaire George Soros, a native of Hungary, was promoting immigration and manipulating refugee policies. In addition, it was alleged that the Helsinki Committee works to ensure that migrants who have become criminal are punished more leniently than Hungarian citizens. The Helsinki Committee was financially supported by Soros.
Fine is low - but the public apology should work
As the organization further said, the court ordered the government to publish an apology through both the media and the government website. Besides, she has to pay the organization two million forint (6000 Euro) compensation.
A court spokesman confirmed the verdict, but did not mention any details. At the request of the AFP news agency, the government said that it accepted the decision of the Supreme Court.
Hungary has been under criticism for some time for its partly inhumane treatment of refugees. The few people seeking help who ever come to the country are victims of the "tightened" refugee policy.
Last year, the authorities starved asylum seekers
As a result, refugees entering from a safe third country are no longer entitled to asylum and their applications are automatically denied. The safe third countries include all Hungary's neighboring countries, including Serbia. This makes it virtually impossible for refugees to obtain asylum status in Hungary, unless they arrive by plane from unsafe states directly.
In the summer of 2018 it became known that the authorities in Hungary had denied rejected asylum seekers food. The official reason given by the Hungarian Immigration and Refugee Authority is that asylum seekers would no longer be legally entitled to food after first-instance refusal of their application.
