Name of the act/s*

Act. no. IV of 2020 on the urgent measures to be taken to stop abusive practices in respect of compensation claims as a result of prison overcrowding / 2020. évi IV. törvény a börtönzsúfoltsági kártalanításokkal kapcsolatos visszaélések megszüntetése érdekében szükséges haladéktalan intézkedésekről

Subject area

Prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prison overcrowding, rule of law

Brief description of the contents of the act

Act. no. IV of 2020 calls upon the Hungarian government to reform the compensation mechanism in respect of conditions of detention violating fundamental rights until 15 May 2020 and to guarantee by September 2020 that the prison population does not exceed the capacity of the penitentiary system. In addition, the act introduces a temporary rule according to which the compensation payments are delayed until 15 June 2020.

Comment

In its pilot judgment of March 2015 delivered in the case of Varga and Others v Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights found that several aspects of the applicants’ detention, such as poor hygiene and lack of privacy, combined with the lack of personal space due to overcrowding, showed that the conditions of detention went beyond the threshold tolerated by Article 3. The Court also found a violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 3 because of the lack of remedies the applicants could have used in respect to the conditions of detention. Consequently, the Hungarian government was called upon to provide an effective remedy, both preventive and compensatory in nature, in order to avoid further violation of the Convention as a result of prison overcrowding.

In 2017, the Hungarian government put in place a mechanism for complaints about conditions of detention and one to claim compensation in respect of conditions of detention violating fundamental rights. It also undertook further measures to decrease prison overcrowding, such as creating additional prison capacity and the promotion of alternative, non-custodial sanctions. The lack of sufficient prison capacity has remained an unresolved problem, but the pecuniary compensation mechanism has been working ever since.

In January 2020, however, PM Viktor Orbán characterized the compensation scheme as unjust and contrary to the sense justice of the Hungarian people. Not only the PM, but several other leading politicians of the incumbent Fidesz party expressed their view that the compensation payments needed to be suspended in order to stop the “prison business”. Human rights NGOs and lawyers representing inmates in such cases were accused by politicians and government mouthpieces of using the compensation mechanism only for lucrative purposes.

On 25 February 2020, the Hungarian National Assembly adopted Act. no. IV of 2020 on the urgent measures to be taken to stop abusive practices in respect of compensation claims as a result of prison overcrowding. At the same time, the Hungarian government launched a so-called national consultation on the topic. In the framework of a national consultation campaign, the government mails questionnaires with multiple-choice questions to every citizen. The people are then free to return the questionnaire with their responses to the Office of the Prime Minister. The governing majority often uses the results of these consultation campaigns to justify very controversial legislative measures which go against constitutional and European standards.

The present act calls upon the government to reform the compensation scheme until 15 May 2020 in light of the results of the national consultation campaign and to guarantee by September 2020 that the prison population does not exceed the capacity of the penitentiary system. In addition, the act introduces a temporary rule according to which the compensation payments are delayed until 15 June 2020. However, it seems that the governing majority has not (yet) decided to go as far as suspending the mechanism or abolish the system altogether.

Secondary sources/ doctrinal works (if any)

Hungarian Helsinki Committee: Compensation for inadequate detention conditions threatened by the Hungarian government, Information Note, January 2020, available at: https://www.helsinki.hu/wp-content/uploads/HHC_info_note_prison_overcrowding_compensations_2020Jan.pdf

*Act citation /year and number

Act. no. IV of 2020

Enacted by

Hungarian National Assembly

Official link to the text of the act

https://magyarkozlony.hu/dokumentumok/3869c4fdb01bd555c982a9be557be09f7a9ee276/megtekintes