Protester wins court case against Hungarian police

The Hungarian police will have to pay Ft 650,000 (€2,580) in damages to a protester kept in custody for three days without a reason on October 23, 2006, the Budapest Court decided on Tuesday.

During commemorations held in the city on the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, police clashed violently with anti-government protesters.

The protester - a young man who participated in the demonstration with a broken leg and on crutches - was initially sentenced to three days in jail. But the second-level court decided that he had not violated any laws, and he sued special the special police commando squad known as "Rebisz" for apprehending him and the Budapest Police (BRFK) for keeping him in custody.

According to the Tuesday decision, which is not fully binding, the BRFK may have to pay Ft 400,000 and the Rebisz Ft 250,000 to the man for limiting his personal freedom.

These awards, however, were less than what the man had been seeking, and the court explained this by saying that it could not verify whether it was true that the young man's crutches had been taken from him while in custody.

Moreover, it said that the protester had some responsibility for what happened, because he had failed to obey police orders to leave the scene, even though his condition would have made it possible.

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