18.06.2014 “Judicial ethics body: citing “Gypsy crime” unethical”

Politics.hu (2014) reports on a verdict of the Hungarian national council of judicial ethics. The council passed judgment that the verdict of judge Erika Mucs from Gyula was unethical. The judge concluded in lawsuit on the prohibition of the right-wing extremist citizens militia Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future) that the term “Gypsy crime” is legitimate, as “criminals” and “gypsies” cicrles would not coincide but strongly overlap. Lajos Makai, president of the Hungarian judicial council, subsequently started proceedings against Mucs. The investigation came to the conclusion that Mucs’ behaviour is unethical and that she broke the judges’ moral code. The latter since she didn’t evaluate the case she was handling objectively. Tunde Hando from the national judicial council said in a statement that the objectivity of the judges must be comprehensible in speech and writing. In addition, a new code of ethics is being adopted, which will be published at the end of 2014 and to which all Hungarian judges must obey.