CPJ: Hungarian authorities should immediately drop the misdemeanour charges against Telex journalists
"Hungarian authorities should immediately drop the misdemeanour charges"
– thus begins the statement of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The journalists' advocacy group issued the call after two Telex journalists were detained last week while waiting for the arrival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a parking lot, so they could ask him some questions about the state of healthcare. They were first given various reasons as to why they should leave the are, ranging from "just because" to citing the soon arrival of the protected person, our colleagues were eventually taken to the police station for being on private property.
CPJ's European representative Attila Mong said: "It is unacceptable to use police force to obstruct reporters from asking questions of public officials. This marks a clear escalation of intimidatory tactics, previously unheard of in Hungary.”
In the past 15 years, it has only been possible to intercept Viktor Orbán for a few questions here and there, at public events. The only regular occasion when an independent journalist has at least 5-10 minutes to ask the Prime Minister questions has been at his annual press conference, at the end of each year. However, in an unprecedented way, at this particular press conference last year, Telex was not permitted to ask questions.
Our colleagues had registered for the event in Fót, which was open to the press, and before which they were detained by police. The Prime Minister was coming to the opening ceremony of a new, 42-billion forint studio, which is the biggest ever publicly funded investment in Hungary into the film industry.
The police have opened misdemeanor proceedings against our colleagues, which could lead to financial penalties. In a statement, the Prime Minister's Press Chief Bertalan Havasi called the journalists' work "pathetic and illegal". Mr Havasi did not respond to CPJ's request for comment.
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