“As it has done so far, Hungary will continue to protect its borders in future and will not allow itself to be made a victim of the migrant business”, the Ministry of Justice’s Parliamentary State Secretary said at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.
Pál Völner told reporters that on Wednesday, the case of the two immigrants from Bangladesh, Ilias Ilias and Ali Ahmed, will be continuing in Strasbourg before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. Last year, the Court ruled against Hungary in the case of the two Bangladeshi citizens, claiming that they were held against their will in the transit zone. Hungary appealed the ruling, and the first hearing in the renewed case will take place on Wednesday.
Mr. Völner pointed out that the immigrants have been represented by the Helsinki Committee since 2015, when they requested asylum at the Hungarian border. He also recalled that following 23 days of investigation and procedure the Hungarian authorities had issued a legally final decision to reject their requests for asylum.
It was following this that the Helsinki Committee, which is financed by George Soros, initiated legal action against Hungary at the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where they proceeded to win the case and “thanks to the business Hungary was ordered to pay 10 thousand euros each to the plaintiffs and 7500 euros in legal costs”, he said.
With relation to the ruling, the Deputy Justice Minister said it was unacceptable for a sovereign nation state not to have the right to protect its borders.
Mr. Völner also spoke about the fact that the only information available concerning the fate of the two Bangladeshi immigrants is that one of them is living in Spain, while the other requested asylum in Germany, where in harmony with the Hungarian ruling his request was also rejected, however, but he has not been successfully extradited to date.
According to the Deputy Justice Minister, these cases are about “integrating nation states”, preventing border protection using non-existent regulations that are often at odds with European law, and enabling a flood of immigrants into Europe. “Hungary will continue to take action to prevent this in future and will continue to represent the interests of Hungarian voters on all international forums”, he added.
In reply to a question, Mr. Völner also spoke about the financing of the Helsinki Committee, explaining that the organisation receives a third of its funding from the UN, a third from the European Commission, and a third from George Soros’s foundations, and accordingly in his opinion it cannot deviate from their opinion.
He told the press that the Ministry was expecting “substantive legal arguments to collide” at Wednesday’s hearing, adding that a decision can be expected in around a year to eighteen months.