Within days of Telex’s court win, the government overrides the court’s decision with a decree

It will not be the hospital directors’ decision after all, whether to allow the press into their facilities – states the latest edition of the Official Journal (Magyar Közlöny).

The Hungarian government issued a regulation about this just a few days after Telex won a lawsuit against the Ministry of Human Resources (EMMI) for banning media outlets from hospitals during the epidemic.

As we have previously reported, the independent media was not allowed into hospitals or health institutions during the coronavirus outbreak. As such, we didn't get the opportunity to report on what the fight against the pandemic looked like on the frontline. Meanwhile, parallel realities of the pandemic have evolved, and the press would have been better able to clarify the facts if it were allowed to show the public what is happening inside of hospitals .

On January 27, the Metropolitan Court ruled that EMMI had unlafwully kept the press, including Telex out of hospitals. According to the court’s ruling it is not the ministry, but hospital directors who have the authority to decide who is allowed in their facilities.

It is this verdict that is overruled by the new decree. According to the decree, if deemed necessary for epidemiological reasons, the Operational Group is to determine the medical institutions’ method of communication with the press, as well as whether the press is to be allowed to enter said institutions. The new regulation came into effect the day after it was announced.

This is all the more interesting because when commenting on the court’s ruling at a press conference, Gergely Gulyás said that „court rulings should be respected, and it is up to the hospital directors to decide.” It was after this that the government’s decree was announced.

Constitutional lawyer and deputy leader of HCLU’s (Hungarian Civil Liberties Union) Political Participatory Rights Project, Emese Pásztor commented:

„Respect for the rule of law means respect for the decisions of the courts, not overriding them by force. According to the standards of Hungary’s Fundamental Law, this arbitrary legislation also violates the Constitution, therefore the HCLU is investigating the possibilities of challenging the decree.”