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Hungary parliament passes bill criminalizing Holocaust denial

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Hungarian Parliament passed a bill on Monday that prohibits denials of the Holocaust. The law, which passed 197-1 with 142 members abstaining, makes denying the Holocaust a criminal offense punishable by up to 3 years in prison. The bill was proposed by Attila Mesterházy, the Hungarian Socialist Party candidate for prime minister, and was the final item considered before the parliament breaks for April elections. The bill now moves to Hungarian President László Sólyom for approval. A measure put forward by the opposition Fidesz party to similarly criminalize the denial of human rights violations committed by the country's former Communist regime was defeated 178-146. Two previous proposals to criminalize hate speech were struck down by the Constitutional Court of Hungary in 2008 on the grounds that they were unconstitutional infringements on the freedom of expression, and that the targeted speech was already marginalized. Hungary is home to more than 50,000 Jews, giving it the largest Jewish population among the eastern members of the EU. Hungary is not alone in attempting to criminalize denial of early 20th-century atrocities. In November, the German Federal Constitutional Court upheld legislation prohibiting public support and justification of the Nazi regime. In 2007, the European Union approved a framework aimed at criminalizing denial of the Holocaust and other genocides after six years of contentious debate. In 2006, British politicians, writers and comedians urged members of the UK House of Commons to accept freedom of speech revisions in the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which had been amended] by the British House of Lords to restrict punishable actions to "threatening words or behavior" rather than including words which may be insulting or abusive.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).