Photo by Keszthelyi Timi on Unsplash
The US Ambassador to Hungary has criticised alleged attacks on the judiciary in Hungary.
David Pressman was giving a keynote address at the 2024 Budapest Forum on 18 September.
He told the event that soon after he arrived in Hungary, he had endeavoured to meet with leaders of Hungary’s judicial institutions.
He said his meetings with the head of the bar association, the head of the National Judicial Office, the head of the Constitutional Court, and the head of the Supreme Court were all viewed as normal diplomatic business.
He added, “But one meeting, with the leadership of the National Judicial Council, resulted in one of the government’s most vitriolic campaigns, targeting the judges, labelling them as traitors for meeting with the United States Ambassador.”
He went on, “The campaign waged against these judges was pervasive. It was in every outlet, in every county, every day, for almost three consecutive months.”
“There are nearly 3,000 judges in Hungary. You can rest assured every single one of them saw what happened to those two judges. Every judge in Hungary understood the lesson: even apolitical criticism from within the system was an unacceptable betrayal and that there would be consequences.”
The diplomat added, “Exactly six months ago in this very room, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the NATO Alliance, I gave a keynote address in which I said that the United States wants a close relationship with Hungary based on “transparency, dialogue, non partisanship, and a commitment to democracy.”
“Six months later, this government’s words and policies have made clear its choice. It is not transparency, dialogue, non partisanship, and a commitment to democracy.”
Hungary, current holder of the EU rotating presidency, has found itself at odds with the EU on occasions in the recent past.
This includes facing recent criticism from Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of the Left Group in the European Parliament, who has called for an EU-wide ban on extraditions to Hungary.
Schirdewan stated: “For years, arbitrary actions have dominated the judiciary and prison system in Hungary, particularly against minorities and those critical of the Orbán regime. In light of the extradition scandal involving the antifascist Maja T., there must be an EU-wide ban on extraditions to Hungary.”
He referred to the case of his parliamentary colleague, Italian national Ilaria Salis, who he said had spent 15 months under inhumane conditions in a Hungarian prison. She faces an 11-year prison sentence and was brought to court in February, bound with three sets of restraints and led by a leash, he said.
“The German government must finally end its appeasement of the Orbán regime and do everything in its power to secure the return of imprisoned antifascists from Germany. There must be no further extraditions to Hungary,” he stated.
No one from the Hungarian presidency was immediately available for comment.
