The following information was provided to the Research Directorate in a 21 October 1997 telephone interview with a representative of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Under the Hungarian penal code, if a person has suffered harassment by a member of the general public, he or she is entitled to file a report with the police.

In cases in which a person has been harassed by the police, the person is entitled to lodge a complaint with the prosecutor's investigative office. Under Hungarian law such a complaint may result in a charge against the police of one or more of the following three crimes: forced interrogation, illegal arrest, and ill-treatment during official procedure. In the experience of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, it is rare that police officers who have been convicted of one of these crimes receive a sentence that is not suspended. For more information on police harassment in Hungary, please consult the following attached documents, provided to the Research Directorate by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee: "Police Against Citizens: Cases of Ill-Treatment and Forced Interrogation," and "Are Police Officers Punishable?"

According to a 27 February 1996 report on Duna TV in Hungary, the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities, sponsored by the Minority Identity Foundation, processed 91 cases over two years of harassment and discrimination against Romanies (Roma, Gypsies) by police and others. The Office has a full-time staff of 40 and over 100 volunteers, comprised of lawyers, psychologists and photographers to help Hungarian Roma seek redress for harassment and discrimination (ibid.). Please consult the attached text of the article for more details.

Historian Paul Gradvohl, writing about discrimination against minorities in Hungary, states that, with regard to Roma, the existence since 1995 of Roma local councillors "made opposition to arbitrary interventions [against Roma] possible" (1996 135, 137). Gradvohl adds that, with regard to minorities in general, Hungarian courts often seem to be reluctant to acknowledge the racist nature of certain crimes, and he cites a 15 February 1995 statement by Judge Gyorgy Palinkas that "no attacks against national, ethnic, racial or religious groups were committed in Hungary" (ibid., 136).

For information on Hungarian law relating to discrimination against minorities and foreigners, please consult the attached excerpt from the article on Hungary in the book The Extreme Right: Freedom and Security at Risk (Braun 1997).

For information on discrimination against Roma in Hungary and the possibilities of redress, please consult Response to Information Request HUN27849.E of 23 September 1997 and attachments. For information on Hungarian government policies regarding discrimination against Roma, please consult the July 1996 Human Rights Watch publication Rights Denied ( The Roma of Hungary, accessible through the UNHCR database REFWORLD, and available in Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Duna TV Satellite Service [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 26 February 1996. "Other Reports; White Paper on Human Rights Abuses Against Hungarian Gypsies Published." (BBC Summary 27 Feb. 1996/NEXIS)

Gradvohl, Paul. 1996. "Hungary" Extremism from the Atlantic to the Urals. Coordination: Jean-Yves Camus. Éditions de l'Aube.

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest. 21 October 1997. Telephone interview with a representative.

Braun, Aurel. 1997. "Hungary: From 'Goulash Communism' to Pluralistic Democracy," The Extreme Right: Freedom and Security at Risk. Edited by Aurel Braun and Stephen Scheinberg. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 201, 215-17.

Duna TV Satellite Service [Budapest, in Hungarian]. 26 February 1996. "Other Reports; White Paper on Human Rights Abuses Against Hungarian Gypsies Published." (BBC Summary 27 Feb. 1996/NEXIS)

Hungarian Helsinki Committee. "Police Against Citizens: Cases of Ill-Treatment and Forced Interrogation January 1, 1996-September 30, 1996," pp. 1-3. (Sent to the Research Directorate by fax)

Koszeg, Ferenc. n.d. "Are Police Officers Punishable?" Budapest: Hungarian Helsinki Committee, pp. 1, 3-11. (Sent to the Research Directorate by fax)