Hungarian rights groups push for greater oversight of police

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Civil Liberties Union are pressing for the establishment of an organisation to assess complaints of police activity, former Helsinki Committee leader Ferenc Kőszeg told reporters on Thursday.

The NGOs have been attempting to put forward a proposal for an effective external control mechanism for years, as police are not held accountable for committing crimes against citizens.

Tom Davis, representing Britain's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a similar organisation has been functioning in the UK since 2003. It is accountable to Parliament, but is independent of it, its leader is appointed by the Queen, and it has 450 staff, of whom 200 can probe the legality of police measures. Their duty is to initiate proceedings regarding unlawful police measures, to help ethnic minorities with various police issues and further improve the police's image.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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