Gábor Matúz, a former editor at Hungary’s public MTV television, who was fired in 2004, claimed that this move was a serious infringement of freedom of speech by the state. The former TV reporter has already published a book on how the previous management of MTV “censored” his reports, subsequently resulting in the termination of his contract. He claims that the refusal of MTV to run some of his interviews was tantamount to state censorship.

MTV argued that the interview in question would have seriously damaged the company’s interest, and that such interviews were contrary to the terms of Mr. Matúz’s employment. The Strasbourg court agreed with Matúz and obliged Hungary to pay him EUR 4,000 in financial and non-financial compensation, as well as to cover the EUR 1,440 cost of the case itself.

Zsolt Császy a former attorney at Hungary’s assets management company (Nemzeti Vagyonkezelő) sued the state for the violation of his rights to private life, as during his 2010 arrest for alleged mismanagement of funds he did not get permission from the police to attend the funeral of his stepmother. The court agreed with the applicant’s reasoning, awarding him damages of EUR 3,000.

Marianne Hábenczius is also to receive EUR 4,000 in reparation from Hungary. She initiated the case because during one of her trips from the US to Hungary, her laptop was confiscated at Ferihegy airport, and she was sentenced for smuggling. She asked the European Court of Human Rights for compensation as her computer was never returned.

The court ruled in her favor as well.

These are not the only cases in which Hungary faces strict verdicts in Strasbourg. A few weeks ago, the court also obliged the country to compensate certain religious organizations for the loss of their official registered church status due to the Religion Act in 2011.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

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