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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1514/H46-19 |
5 December 2024 |
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1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH)
H46-19 Gubacsi group v. Hungary (Application No. 44686/07) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference documents |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that this group of cases concerns ill-treatment (between 2000 and 2017) by law enforcement officers during the applicants’ arrest, transfer or detention, the lack of effective investigations in that respect, and violations of the right to life in the same context;
As regards individual measures
2. invited the authorities to urgently submit information on the re-examination by the competent independent authorities of the cases Nagy, Pósa, Csúcs, Mata, R.B., and Lózay, including on the investigatory steps that can still be taken, on those that can no longer be taken for practical or legal reasons and on the possibility of (re)opening disciplinary proceedings;
As regards general measures
3. recalled with concern that ill-treatment by law-enforcement officers has been a long-standing and complex problem in Hungary which continues to give rise to complaints at domestic level and new applications before the Court;
4. noted with regret that the “zero tolerance” message towards ill-treatment in law enforcement, at the highest possible level, has not yet been communicated, and strongly urged the authorities to take the necessary steps without further delay; called on the authorities to provide comprehensive information on the implementation of relevant measures already reported by the authorities in 2018 related to the psychological aspects of police work, as well as on any other measures taken or envisaged in this respect;
5. noting with concern the reported reinstatement of law enforcement officers even after criminal convictions for ill-treatment, called on the authorities to ensure that the practice of reinstating law enforcement officers following a criminal conviction is compliant with the Court’s case-law and excluded in cases of conviction for ill-treatment;
6. welcomed the considerable increase in the number of recording devices available for the police in interrogation rooms, detention facilities, police vehicles and as body cameras, as well as the increasing number of recorded interrogations; encouraged the authorities to intensify their efforts and further increase the number of recording devices used by the police and the number of recorded interrogations, as well as to provide further statistical data on the number of recorded police interrogations, also indicating the percentage of mandatory and discretionary recordings;
7. reiterated their call on the authorities, in line with the recommendations made by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to adopt legislative measures extending the scope of instances where video recording of police work is mandatory, and increasing the thirty-day statutory period of storage of relevant video-recordings;
8. reiterated their call on the authorities to provide information on the measures taken (i) to improve the quality of the medical examination of detained persons in police holding facilities complaining of ill-treatment, (ii) to establish an independent medical examination body mandated to examine alleged victims of ill-treatment, and (iii) to ensure the full confidentiality of detainees’ medical examinations in practice; as well as to provide information on measures taken or foreseen to strengthen the role of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights in performing its NPM function;
9. noted with interest the information received on educational programmes provided to police officers, as well as the focused training provided to investigating prosecutors in 2023; encouraged the authorities to take the necessary steps to launch centralised trainings on police ill-treatment and ensure that such trainings reach as many officers as possible; invited the authorities to consider engaging in relevant cooperation activities and projects within the Council of Europe also to that end;
10. noted with interest the Prosecutor General’s targeted internal inspection into ill-treatment investigations and the resulting recommendations to remedy the shortcomings revealed by that inspection;
11. noted with concern the low number of indictments and convictions following criminal complaints of ill-treatment or coercive interrogations; called on the authorities to adopt further measures to enhance the effectiveness of investigations, notably by addressing the problems identified by the Court and by the Prosecutor General’s internal inspection, including measures to ensure that implicated police officers are questioned during investigations; invited the authorities to provide updated statistical information about all criminal investigations into ill-treatment by law enforcement officers and their outcome to enable the Committee to assess the impact of the measures;
12. reiterated their calls on the authorities to introduce a practice of re-examining ill-treatment investigations ex officio at an earlier stage of the Convention proceedings, either when applications are communicated by the Court, or at the latest immediately after the delivery by the Court of a judgment finding a violation; as well as to consider reviewing the domestic law to extend or lift the relatively short (five-year) prescription period for crimes of ill-treatment in line with other member states’ practices;
13. invited the authorities to submit an updated action plan by the end of September 2025 and decided to resume consideration of this group at their DH meeting in March 2026; in the absence of tangible progress by that meeting regarding the issues mentioned in paragraphs 4, 11 and 12 above, decided to consider taking new action to ensure that the respondent State abides by its obligations deriving from the Court’s judgments.