Racism in Hungary: A Sigh of Relief?

The arrest of Hungary’s serial killers doesn’t mean the problem is over just yet for the Roma

Early Friday the Hungarian police arrested four men in the eastern Hungarian town of Debrecen. They are believed to be behind a spate of killings which left six people dead. The four men deny the charges, but the police are confident they have caught Hungary’s notorious serial killers which are responsible for spreading fear and trepidation within Hungary’s minority Roma community.

There is no doubt that most are breathing a sigh of relief. If these individuals are really behind the killings then a sordid chapter has come to a close. Yet these arrests have already raised some eyebrows and some are not so sure that the problem for the Roma is over just yet.

As in any democracy, a person is innocent until proven guilty. Thus, until the individuals stand trial and a verdict is heard nothing is certain just yet. Unfortunately in Hungary the judicial process is regarded by both the authorities and the general public as a minor administrative inconvenience. As a result, a person is often deemed guilty first and subsequently has to prove their innocence. Often, a judge deems a person guilty not because of the evidence against them, but because the accused is unable to prove the contrary against all reasonable doubt. In Hungary, it is standard judicial practice that in cases where one conclusion implies a defendant's guilt and another one their innocence then the "benefit of the doubt" principle doesn’t apply. In other words, even if circumstantial evidence suggests a possibility of innocence the prosecution is not burdened with disproving that possibility.

Such a warped view toward justice has consistently led to major errors. A prime example of this was the Mor bank robbery in 2002. This bank robbery was the bloodiest of its kind in Hungarian history, claiming the lives of eight people. Two individuals were charged in connection with the murders and robbery. Both men were convicted and given life sentences; a friend who was behind bars for another crime did a deal with the prosecution and testified against them in return for a reduced sentence.

The convictions in this case were based on neither circumstantial nor direct evidence; there was no link to the crime in terms of DNA, fingerprints, or objects related to the scene. It was only several years later, during a robbery where a postman was murdered, when it was revealed who the real perpetrators were (the prime suspect later committed suicide in custody). Perhaps most ignominious of all was that there was no official apology or admission of a mistake from the authorities; indeed, the judge who oversaw the case retired shortly after it came to light who the real killers were and adamantly defended his fallacious ruling. It should come as no surprise that the current President of Hungary, Lazslo Solyom, himself a lawyer and former constitutional judge, has made it one of his priorities to try and reform the country’s defective judiciary.

All this is not to say that those who now stand accused with the serial murders against the Roma are not possibly guilty. However, given the shoddy state of justice in Hungary many questions have already been raised concerning the arrests. One of them relates to a protected witness who was a key element to helping the police solve the case. As with the bank robbery in Mor, witnesses aren’t always trustworthy.

Use of state media to propagate false information

Aside from this, there are some concerns with the way in which the police handled the case leading up to the arrests. One of these is based on the claim that the group had been under surveillance for some time. Speculation is rife that the police had already known that the group was responsible for the serial killings prior to the last murder, but that their incompetence had allowed the latest murder to take place nonetheless.

Equally disturbing were the comments by the minister responsible for public security which were made shortly after the latest murder, in where he stated that it will take a decade for the authorities to solve the murders. In retrospect, it’s obvious that these comments were made specifically to lead the perpetrators of the crimes into a false sense of security. This isn’t the first time that the police have used such tricks: prior to arresting Attila Kulcsar, the main culprit in the so-called K&H case (Hungary’s worst financial scandal to date), state media reported how the authorities believed that Kulcsar was hiding out in Spain. Later he was arrested in Vienna after he was tricked into a meeting during a police sting operation.

There is nothing wrong in tricking potential suspects into giving themselves up or leading them into a false sense of security. However, when government ministers and other official use the state media to relay false information and propaganda to this end the question is raised as to whether the ends justify the means. It’s only to be expected that the authorities don’t need to divulge exactly what they know about a case for fear that those they suspect may escape or hide important evidence; on the other hand, the public should not be misled.

The problem with having the authorities lead suspects to a supposed false sense of security via false information transmitted through the mass media is that it leads to a slippery slope: if state media propagates false information to this end, how can the public ever be certain that any information from the media is true, and that the authorities not only use the media to propagate false information in their pursuit of criminals, but also in order to cover up their own wrongdoing and government corruption? It’s also debatable as to how effective such methods really are and whether they actually work. Not only this, in this particular case since the police supposedly already knew who the perpetrators were and that they were under surveillance, was such media propaganda really necessary in the first place?

Racism and the far-right in Hungary

Unfortunately, for most Hungarians such issues don’t seem very important. The main thing is that the suspects have been caught and that hopefully the attacks against the Roma have come to an end. Still, questions remain as to the prime motive behind the killings. The police claim that racism is the primary motive but have been unable to reinforce such claims. So far their only justification is that one suspect has neo-Nazi like tattoos.

Naturally, this in itself is not enough to establish racism as the primary motive. Not only this, the Hungarian police themselves have to confront the problem of racism in their midst. In 2006 a scandal broke out when it was revealed the existence of an internal racist police blog. The police tried to sidestep the issue by noting that the Hungarian police were not racist since the blog wasn’t public. Furthermore, they referred to the material on the blog simply as anti-Roma and not racist.

The problem here is that it’s still uncertain whether the Roma can breathe a sigh of relief now that the supposed perpetrators have been caught. Racism in Hungary permeates all levels of society and is in many ways institutionalized, as in the case of the police. Not only this, the upsurge in violence against the Roma is not only limited to the half dozen or so murders over the past few months. Some are afraid that even if the real serial killers have been caught, then it someone else might soon take their place.

Meanwhile, the Roma community has its own set of problems. One of these is trying to confront the growing militancy within its own ranks. The Roma don’t trust the Hungarian police for obvious reasons. As a result, some have felt that it’s better to take matters into their own hands.

This, in turn, has reinforced the cause of the far-right in Hungary as exemplified by the growing popularity of the Hungarian Guard. Although the Hungarian Guard was disbanded by a court order earlier this year, it’s still quite active. During this past weekend, for instance, 620 new members joined the organization at a rally near the northern Hungarian town of Esztergom. The organization now refers to itself as the New Hungarian Guard Movement as opposed to the Hungarian Guard Union. Although the name may be a little different, its look and symbols are more or less still the same.

All this is symptomatic of a country falling apart – economically, morally, politically, and socially. The serial killings over the past few months seemed to highlight a situation that was slowly but surely slipping out of control. With the arrests of the suspected perpetrators late last week, the only hope is that the extreme elements to this chaos can somehow be kept in check.