The deaf and mute person, who is unable to write, read or use sign language, was not given adequate briefing about the cause of his detention when he was caught by police on suspicion of robbery, and the circumstances of his three-month detention exhausted the notion of torture and inhumane treatment, with which the Hungarian authorities violated the European Convention of Human Rights in two provisions.

The man was asked for his identity card following a robbery in Gyüre, Szabolcs county. He was captured trying to escape, the stolen objects were found on him, and he was detained at Vásárosnamény police station, where he received a sign language interpreter and was soon questioned as a robbery suspect without the presence of a lawyer.

The Hungarian government says that the suspect signed the minutes of the questioning and thus admitted the crime and acknowledged the charges.

However, the man said the sign language used by him and the interpreter were not identical and thus he was unable to communicate. He claimed that during his three month detention he was sexually and in other ways harassed by the other detainees.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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