People are free in a state where the consequences of their actions are predictable and where clean and transparent rules apply not only to them, but also to state authorities. In a state where the people know what the state expects from them, but they also know what they can expect from the state.
This is why it is important that the Hungarian democracy operates as a state based on the rule of law, and why we step up in its defence.
Since the summer of 2010, we have been closely cooperating with the Eötvös Károly Public Policy Institute and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, aiming at the effective defence of the fundamental values of a state based on the rule of law. However, this increasingly means documenting the newest steps of demolishing the rule of law.
We studied together the decisions of the Constitutional Court reached between 2011 and 2014, and our conclusion was dramatic: after the new judges were elected by the current governing party, the Constitutional Court became unequivocally “government-friendly”, as opposed to its former role of creating and protecting a real constitutional balance.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee criticises the all-time state power, documents the harm suffered by the rule of law and its institutions, and turns to domestic and international forums in order to impede the demolishing of the democratic rule of law state.
We provided legal aid to police officers, fire fighters, and penitentiary staff members who turned to the European Court of Human Rights after they were deprived of their preferential pension retroactively. We stepped up against the discriminatively forced retirement of judges, and also turned to the European Court of Human Rights in cases against depriving private pension fund members of their state pension. We also represented successfully a government official before the European Court of Human Rights who was dismissed without justification.
