Capital punishment issue to be discussed, says Orban

Budapest, April 28 (MTI) – Issues around capital punishment should “stay on the agenda”, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a press conference in Pecs on Tuesday.

The prime minister said that Hungary’s passing a “three strikes” law and actual life imprisonment had not been sufficient to deter criminals, and suggested that debates around a possible re-introduction of the capital punishment should be continued.

“It must be made clear to criminals that Hungary will use all means to protect its citizens,” Orban said.

Disputes whether Hungary’s penal laws are strict enough have flared up in connection with the recent murder of a young tobacconist in southwest Hungary.

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition said in response to Orban’s press conference that the prime minister had taken up the topic of capital punishment as a gesture to radical nationalist party Jobbik, “sinking morally even deeper” in the process. Csaba Molnar, the party’s deputy leader, noted in a statement that not only does the death penalty not exist in the European Union but it does not in a single European country either.

The Egyutt party also issued a statement saying that in pursuit of a petty political gain, Orban had become “more Jobbik than Jobbik” and was making ever more extreme statements in a bid to restore his popularity. Egyutt said that the prime minister should be aware that such a move as restoring the death penalty would have unforeseeable international legal consequences and would in effect mean Hungary being excluded from the EU.

The Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party called on the prime minister to drop his “cynical game” of “stealing Jobbik’s lunatic ideas”. PM co-leader Timea Szabo said in a statement that the crime rate could be reduced through more efficient investigations rather than by increasing penalties. She also noted that it sometimes transpires that courts made a mistake, and this costs the life of an innocent person if sentenced to death.

based on the article of MTI

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters