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The National Council for Combatting Discrimination (CNCD) decided on Wednesday to publicly condemn statements by Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban on July 23 at Tusnad, Romania, calling them "hate speech" and saying that "through the message conveyed, a hostile, degrading, humiliating atmosphere was created towards certain categories of people based on nationality and race."
"Regarding the legal responsibility of the defendant, the Board of Directors admits the exception of the jurisdictional immunity of Viktor Orban, considering his quality as prime minister of Hungary while in a foreign country, Romania," according to CNCD, Agerpres informs.
The decision passed 5 votes to 3 and 1 abstention.
"The Board of Directors is of the opinion that immunity from jurisdiction is procedural in nature, because it does not refer to impunity from the substantive right or removal from the scope of the law, but only to the fact that legal procedures cannot work in relation to the person who, although subject to local law, cannot be held accountable. In the case brought to the settlement, immunity ratione personae exceeds a personal interest, because the circumstances related to the imputed facts and the person against whom the complaint was made are not equivocal, in terms of the function per se that fulfills that of a high-ranking official of a foreign country, more precisely as the prime minister."
According to CNCD, the identity of the defendant, and in particular the status of representative at the international or European level, or at the external level, on behalf of the country to which he belongs, is well-known, does not create doubts or equivocation at the level of the national authorities.
CNCD says that immunity from jurisdiction does not make the legal regime of obligations and the eventual civil, criminal or administrative liability arising from the internal law of the state of which the person concerned is a citizen disappear.
However, the college cannot ignore the fact that, by virtue of their position, the heads of government hold the exercise of representing the state and, in this exercise, they are recognised as representatives of the state and enjoy immunity from jurisdiction, by virtue of the international instruments that are part of customary international law and constitute relevant sources of international law.
In relation to approaches at the international level, the Board of Directors is of the opinion that the head of the government of a foreign state enjoys the same inviolability and immunity from jurisdiction recognised by the head of state, and when he is abroad he enjoys all diplomatic immunities and privileges, as head of state.
The board of directors is of the opinion that immunity from civil and administrative jurisdiction is absolute, like immunity in criminal matters, applying both to acts committed in the exercise of functions and to private acts.
The board of directors admits the exception regarding the immunity from jurisdiction enjoyed by the complained party, by virtue of the quality of the head of the government of a foreign state, in this case the quality of prime minister of Hungary.
The board of directors is of the opinion that it is necessary to communicate the decision of the CNCD and the case file to the competent authorities in Hungary, in order to analyse the alleged facts and to order the necessary measures, as the case may be, in the case of the relevant institutions in the field from the neighbouring state.
Chairman of Iasi National Liberal Party (PNL) Alexandru Muraru said in August that he had officially notified the National Council for Combatting Discrimination regarding the speech given by the Orban, the president of FIDESZ, at Baile Tusnad. According to him, the action was taken because of the racist statements made.
Orban said that the world is in a decade of dangers and perils and he did not believe that the pillars of Western civilization would begin to crumble. In his opinion, the migration phenomenon has divided Europe in two and there is a battle between these two sides.
