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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1514/H46-18 |
5 December 2024 |
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1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH)
H46-18 Alhowais (Application No. 59435/17) and Shahzad (No. 2) (Application No. 37967/18) v. Hungary Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference documents |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that these cases concern the border control authorities’ failure to take operational measures within the scope of their powers reasonably expected to protect the life of the applicant’s brother in Alhowais, and the applicant’s ill-treatment by law-enforcement officers while being escorted back to the external side of the Hungarian-Serbian border fence in Shahzad (No. 2), as well as the lack of effective investigations into these incidents;
As regards individual measures
2. noting with interest the ex officio review of the possibility of reopening the investigation in the Alhowais case after the case was communicated by the Court, invited the authorities to provide detailed information about the legal conditions assessed by the Prosecutor General’s Office during that review, the grounds that led to the conclusions that it was not possible, and whether it was the competent prosecutorial authorities who later decided that the statute of limitations had expired; invited them also to clarify whether it would be possible to reopen the investigation in case of a possible requalification of the circumstances of the incident under the relevant provisions of domestic criminal law;
3. called on the competent authorities to urgently examine the possibility of reopening the investigation in Shahzad (No. 2) to ensure as far as possible that the shortcomings identified by the Court are rectified, and invited them to submit the prosecution’s reasoned decision in this respect, detailing the legal conditions required and the considerations taken into account, including on the investigatory steps that can still be taken or those that can no longer be taken for practical or legal reasons;
As regards general measures
4. invited the authorities to provide information on the measures taken or planned to address the shortcomings in border control operations identified by the European Court, including ensuring that no excessive force is used at the border, and to implement and enforce detailed instructions and operational plans for such procedures, incorporating both the allocation of sufficient capacities as well as the adequate assessment of potential risks and the possible order of priorities in emergency situations;
5. invited the authorities to provide information on the measures planned or taken to implement effective safeguards to prevent ill-treatment at borders, and stressed the importance of a general “zero tolerance” message at the highest possible level and the need for prevention and awareness raising, including trainings, within border patrol agents and law enforcement officers to ensure that the treatment of migrants at the border complies with international standards;
6. invited the authorities to explore possible avenues to ensure that the process of prosecutorial investigations into incidents that take place at the border is clarified and they are conducted in a fully Convention-compliant manner, including through trainings and awareness raising of the police, prosecutors, and judges, drawing also on the Council of Europe expertise;
7. invited the authorities to submit updated action plans for both cases including information on all the above issues by the end of June 2025 at the latest, and decided to resume consideration of these cases at their 1545th meeting (December 2025) (DH) at the latest.