A total of 2,600 criminals were imprisoned in Hungary for human trafficking – the majority have now been released. Budapest justifies this with overcrowded prisons across the country. The EU is taking action against it.
According to official figures, Hungary has released 1,468 prisoners convicted of human trafficking in the past four months. The national prison authority confirmed this to the AFP news agency, adding that the detainees were “of foreign nationality”.
Most of the 2,600 people smugglers caught come from neighboring countries such as Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban had already decided on the release at the end of April and justified this with overcrowded prisons across the country.
EU Commission denounces lack of control
The EU Commission is taking action against this. In July, it launched infringement proceedings against Budapest. Hungary, in turn, had issued a corresponding government decree. The release is subject to the condition that those released must leave Hungary “within 72 hours” after being released from prison in order to serve the remainder of their sentence in their home country.
According to the EU Commission, however, the decree does not provide for any control by Hungary as to whether the released people actually comply with the request.
Austria tightened border controls
Direct neighbors like Austria had reacted with tightened border controls and summoned the Hungarian ambassador in Vienna. Austria is one of the target countries favored by human traffickers for smuggling migrants from the Balkans via Hungary. According to Vienna, the release of convicted human traffickers is therefore a security threat.
Observers see Hungary’s decision as a retaliatory measure against Brussels over the ongoing dispute over European migration policy. Hungary’s deputy interior minister, Bence Retvari, said his country felt compelled to make the decision because the EU does not contribute to the costs of detaining human traffickers or building new prisons.