🚨BREAKING🚨
HHC uncovers how #Hungary Chief Justice Varga Zs. unlawfully appointed several judges to the Kúria. Through an FoI, we obtained data that shows how he circumvented rules of appointment to place certain people in key positions. A short 🧵.
One of the most well-known such individuals is Judge Hajas, previous secretary of state in Judit Varga’s Justice Ministry. Similarly to Chief Justice Varga Zs,. Hajas had no prior judicial experience, yet he was skyrocketed to the bench of the highest court in Hungary.
Despite clear breaches of procedural rules established by law, no domestic remedy is available against the appointments. Consequences can be far-reaching. ECtHR’s Astradsson v. Iceland established the criteria to assess if the right to a tribunal established by law was breached.
How the Chief Justice managed to unlawfully appoint judges and get away with it? Our detailed story, yet only in Hungarian, is available here. EN translation will follow soon. helsinkifigyelo.444.hu/2022/09/03/tor…
In our November 2020 analysis, we warned that the new chief judge could become a transmission belt for executive power in Hungary. helsinki.hu/en/new-chief-j…
1. It's been over a month since the @EUCourtPress ruled that #Hungary#pushback legislation breaches EU law. HU authorities fully ignore the judgment (oh hello #RuleOfLaw) & continue pushbacks. 🚨4400+ have been carried out since last December 🚨.
2. We wrote to @Frontex on 7 January requesting that it reconsiders its presence in Hungary. A decision on this is pending according to the response we received.
3. We also wrote to the Hungarian Police on 7 January inquiring about how it plans to implement the judgment. We are still waiting for a response. ⏱️⏲️⏰🕰️⏳⌛️