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| 2010 Szeptember 03 (Péntek) |
Hilda névnapja |
Articles/Cikkek |
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Unlawful Harassment of Advocates for Regional Autonomy
Obstructing Freedom of Expression and Association:
Unlawful Harassment of Advocates for Regional Autonomy
The Székely National Council (SzNC) and the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (HNCT) were formed in October and December 2003, respectively, to encourage public debate on the vital questions of internal self-determination, local democracy and self-administration for the Hungarian minority (see Attachment Nos. 1-3). Romanian authorities responded swiftly by instituting police surveillance, conducting illegal detentions and otherwise harassing adherents of the two, entirely legal, avowedly law-abiding entities. At the same time, Romanian public officials, including the President, the Prime Minister, government ministers, the governing political party and all variety of administrative bodies and ultra-nationalist political entities, unleashed a barrage of invective, deliberately distorting the facts, misleading the public as to the intentions of the Hungarian community, and threatening further “legal” action.
Although these organizations function in full accord with Romanian Constitution and Resolution 1334/2003 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Positive Experiences of Autonomous Regions as a Source of Inspiration for Conflict Resolution in Europe, the authorities are conducting a rigorous intimidation campaign in an effort to criminalize the constitutionally guaranteed right of every citizen of Romania to free speech.
On October 9, 2003 police stopped the car of Imre Fodor, the Deputy Mayor of Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely and an ethnic Hungarian, in the village of Sangeorgiu de Padure/Erdőszentgyörgy, Mures/Maros County. After opening the car trunk, which contained posters of the Székely National Council (see Attachment No. 3), Mr. Fodor was detained and taken to the local police station. The unlawful intrusion and detention were followed by three hours of interrogation by Colonel Anca, Deputy Commissioner of the Mures County Police, and Marius Calin Stefanescu, Prosecutor from the Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely Court of Appeals.
On the same day, two other SzNC supporters were also interrogated by police. Árpád Andrássy, President of the Ludus/Marosludas branch of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR), and Lajos Márton, member of the Civic Association of Hungarians were detained in Targu Mures while posting invitations to the founding meeting of the Targu Mures branch of the Council.
The next day harassment continued: the Sovata/Szováta police searched the car of András Tőkés, member of the Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely city council (and, coincidentally, brother of autonomy-advocate Bishop László Tőkés). Finding SzNC posters in the car, the officers took Mr. Tőkés to the police station where he refused to give a written statement. On the same day, police confiscated SzNC leaflets about to be distributed by Szilárd Madaras in Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós.
In an October 13 interview with the Romanian-language daily Evenimentul Zilei Dan Petru, Chief Prosecutor of the Mures County Court of Appeals, threatened that Fodor, Andrássy and Tőkés faced charges of “disturbing the constitutional order,” punishable by 5-15 years imprisonment.
This pattern of intimidation and harassment elicited protests by domestic human rights advocates. Smaranda Enache, co-chair of the Targu Mures-based Pro Europa League, told reporters that Fodor had been the victim of ethnic discrimination and the League would report the case at various international fora. On October 21, 2003 DAHR Parliamentarian Zsolt Szilágyi lodged a petition with the appropriate government body, the so-called “National Council against Discrimination (NCAD),” to which he annexed a report by Romanian human rights advocate Gabriel Andreescu. In its December 4 reply, the NCAD alleged that the events did not fall within its jurisdiction and the file would be forwarded elsewhere. Szilágyi then filed an appeal against the NCAD decision with the Bucharest Court of Appeals ― which has failed to respond to date.
Meanwhile, invectives on the part of various officials and public figures have continued unrelenting since the Fall. On January 21, 2004, the country’s “Supreme Defense Council” issued a statement claiming that a bill on autonomy drafted by the SzNT for the predominantly Hungarian-inhabited region, Székelyföld, is “unconstitutional.” Romanian President Ion Iliescu, admitted to reporters that it will be up to Parliament to decide the fate of the bill, which has not even been submitted yet to that body. Nevertheless, according to Iliescu, the Council felt obligated to “set the tone” in this question. (For additional examples of the ongoing smear campaign, see Attachment No. 5)
Hindering the freedom of association and suppressing decentralization and local democracy is not restricted to ethnic minority aspirations. The Romanian government’s commitment to these democratic principles has been seriously called into question by the banning of political parties dedicated to these principles. A case in point is the fate of the multi-ethnic Transylvania-Banat League founded on March 23, 2002 by an ethnic Romanian, Sabin Gherman. On February 3, 2003, the Bucharest Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the League against a recent Bucharest Court decision which had refused to register the organization as a political party. The court alleged that the organization’s support for European regionalism “undermined the Romanian nation-state,” and objected to the fact that its insignia contained the stars of the European Union’s emblem.
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