In last week’s judgment in the case of Balázs v. Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights held, by six votes to one, that there was violation of Article 14 read in conjunction with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights resulting from the failure to investigate a racist attack against a Romani man in 2012.
Mr Balázs, a Romani man from Szeged (a town in South East Hungary), was about to leave a club in Szeged, when a man claiming to be a police officer started to insult him and his girlfriend making degrading comments about his Roma origin and about the physical appearance of his girlfriend. Mr Balázs complained that the authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into the racist attack against him, and in particular that they had not taken sufficient action to establish a possible racist motive for the assault.
The Court also considers that when it comes to offences committed to the detriment of members of particularly vulnerable groups, ‘’vigorous investigation’’ is required.
Find the ECHR’s judgment in the case of Balázs v. Hungary here.