Rétvári, who is also state secretary at the human resources ministry, said the position of Christians and the church was that “life is given by God and no man can take it away.

Everyone should be given a chance to feel remorse for their sins,” he said. Political analysts polled on the issue agreed that a debate on capital punishment could be useful, and politically it would be a mistake to reject it.

Asked if the death penalty was a taboo subject in the EU, Tibor Attila Nagy, analyst at Méltányosság, told public Kossuth Rádió that EU treaties and human rights charters prohibit the death sentence.

But, he added, in France the far right does address this issue, just recently after terrorist attacks in Paris. Tamás Lánczi, head analyst at Századvég, said: “elites try to avoid this subject because they don’t have a strong position and they would have to go against their voters.

Elites oppose, the average European supports the death penalty.” However, Nagy said the debate could be counterproductive if voters realised that Hungarian and international laws do not allow the restoration of the death sentence.

He added that if a debate does go ahead, it could be in parliament or some other forum. “It could work for Fidesz to divert attention from other issues and take some wind out of Jobbik’s sail,” he said.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been criticised at home and abroad for his remarks on the issue made in the wake of a brutal murder of a young tobacconist in southwest Hungary.

Orbán said that the issue of restoring capital punishment should be “kept on the agenda” as even strict “three strikes” laws and real life sentences have been unable to deter criminals.

The British Guardian published an article on Orbán on Wednesday, which the Hungarian government classified as “slur” and pledged to “take steps”.

It is not the prime minister but Hungarian voters who want to keep the issue of the death penalty on the agenda, Orbán was merely reflecting on their wishes, the government spokesman said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu - Visit Hungary Matters to sign-up for MTI’s twice-daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi

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