We are happy to see how many people came today to show solidarity! We have are here today on behalf of Migszol, the Migrant Solidarity Group of Hungary. We are one of the groups and individuals organizing the protest against the trial and the court decision of last Friday.
We are talking about the trial against 11 people, who were arrested out of the crowd last September and are found guilty now of violation of the border and mass riot. September was the time when the border fence to Serbia was closed and it became from one day to the other illegal - by criminal law - to cross to Hungary. The fence, which grossly violates people’s human right to move and seek asylum was put in place. So, while the government was transporting people themselves to Austria by busses the day before, on September 16th police was using tear gas and water cannons against people who wanted to cross. Out of the place of the protest, they arrested the 11 accused completely randomly, among those people who could not leave that quickly. Among them are very young and very old people, sick people, a person in a wheelchair. The most absurd thing is that nobody of the 10 found guilty on Friday was even participating in throwing stones.
And this is not the only absurdity of the trial. After nearly 10 month of detention, in horrible conditions, after the falsification of translations and the biased refusal to take into consideration important video material and the brutal use of tear gas of the police, the accused were found guilty - while the access of international media to report about it was heavily restricted. 10 of the accused got prison sentences between 1 and 3 years and expulsion from Hungary for up to 10 years, while one, Ahmed, accused for terrorism - for throwing stones - is facing up to 20 years of imprisonment.
This is the opposite of a just decision and this is no coincidence Trials as the one we are seeing here are in line and supporting the repressive Hungarian and also European migration politics.Seeking international protection, searching for safety, is made a crime and portrait as a threat to European nations. People fleeing from war are mistreated in such an inhuman way that makes them try to commit suicide. This makes us so angry.
This trial is clearly a show trial. A show trial meant to state an example and to create fear. And this at the cost of the freedom and the lives of the 11 people.
We demand the immediate freedom of all of them - freedom from imprisonment, in which some of the accused still are, but not only. Also freedom in a wider sense: freedom from the criminalization and the stigma, freedom from the threat of expulsion separating them from their families in the EU, freedom to find protection.
We are standing here to protest against the injustice of the court and for freedom of movement.
We are talking about the trial against 11 people, who were arrested out of the crowd last September and are found guilty now of violation of the border and mass riot. September was the time when the border fence to Serbia was closed and it became from one day to the other illegal - by criminal law - to cross to Hungary. The fence, which grossly violates people’s human right to move and seek asylum was put in place. So, while the government was transporting people themselves to Austria by busses the day before, on September 16th police was using tear gas and water cannons against people who wanted to cross. Out of the place of the protest, they arrested the 11 accused completely randomly, among those people who could not leave that quickly. Among them are very young and very old people, sick people, a person in a wheelchair. The most absurd thing is that nobody of the 10 found guilty on Friday was even participating in throwing stones.
And this is not the only absurdity of the trial. After nearly 10 month of detention, in horrible conditions, after the falsification of translations and the biased refusal to take into consideration important video material and the brutal use of tear gas of the police, the accused were found guilty - while the access of international media to report about it was heavily restricted. 10 of the accused got prison sentences between 1 and 3 years and expulsion from Hungary for up to 10 years, while one, Ahmed, accused for terrorism - for throwing stones - is facing up to 20 years of imprisonment.
This is the opposite of a just decision and this is no coincidence Trials as the one we are seeing here are in line and supporting the repressive Hungarian and also European migration politics.Seeking international protection, searching for safety, is made a crime and portrait as a threat to European nations. People fleeing from war are mistreated in such an inhuman way that makes them try to commit suicide. This makes us so angry.
This trial is clearly a show trial. A show trial meant to state an example and to create fear. And this at the cost of the freedom and the lives of the 11 people.
We demand the immediate freedom of all of them - freedom from imprisonment, in which some of the accused still are, but not only. Also freedom in a wider sense: freedom from the criminalization and the stigma, freedom from the threat of expulsion separating them from their families in the EU, freedom to find protection.
We are standing here to protest against the injustice of the court and for freedom of movement.
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