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Coronavirus: Hungarian police track down authors of 'alarmist' messages

2020-05-13T19:21:06.848Z



Several Hungarians have been arrested for criticizing their government on social media, under an amendment introduced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban as part of the fight against the new coronavirus, the Hungarian opposition denounced on Wednesday.

Read also: Hungary: Orban obtains full powers

In at least three cases, the police arrested the authors of the disputed messages at their home to interview them for several hours, the persons concerned reported.

Hungarian police themselves released footage of one of the arrests. It said it was investigating 86 cases falling under the amendment adopted on March 30 to sanction the dissemination of "false information" that could "hamper" the effectiveness of measures taken against the coronavirus.

This amendment broadened the scope of an already existing offense intended to punish "alarmist remarks".

Bullying operation

On Wednesday, a member of the opposition Momentum party who was detained for a few hours in southern Hungary, said his training. He had published a message on a controversial measure which led to the expulsion of many patients from Hungarian hospitals to free beds in anticipation of a worsening of the Covid-19 epidemic. "The muzzling of critical voices has started," lamented independent MP Akos Hadhazy, indignant at an "intimidation operation".

Read also: Georges Karolyi: "Hungary has in no way become a dictatorship"

The day before, the police announced that they had searched the home of a 64-year-old man for a message posted last month on social networks. "The police are constantly monitoring the internet," said the law enforcement statement.

The targeted message criticized the containment measures with the following comment: "You are a merciless bully, but remember, dictators always fall." The sixty-something man told the press that the police questioned him about the person targeted by the word "dictator", before releasing him. Prosecutors said on Wednesday that the case had been closed.

Last week, a 52-year-old woman was also arrested due to a social media message that several health facilities would soon close in Hungary. The statement was likely to undermine confidence in the public health system, said the police report.

Viktor Orban had a state of emergency law passed at the start of the pandemic which considerably strengthens his powers for an indefinite period. The European Parliament will debate this legislation and the rule of law in Hungary on Thursday.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-05-13

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