In response to a statement on Monday by Slovakian Minister of Justice Tomas Borec, the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice has stated that a framework decision on European arrest warrants exists between Hungary and Slovakia, and that this could be enacted if a Slovak court requests extradition from Hungary of the war crimes suspect László Csatáry. In Hungary also, it is the exclusive right of the judiciary (and not ministries) to decide on the implementation of a European arrest warrant.

According to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, in the spring of 1944 László Csatáry (who is now 97 years old) played a key role as a chief of police in the transportation of approximately 15 700 Jews to Auschwitz from the Hungarian city of Kassa (Košice in present-day Slovakia). In 1941 Csatáry may also have played a key role in the transportation of around 300 Jews from Kassa to Kamyanets-Podilsky in Ukraine, where that summer almost all of them were killed. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to death by a Czechoslovakian court in 1948. Between 1949 and 1997 Csatáry lived in Canada, returning to Hungary in 1997.

In September 2011 the Budapest Investigative Prosecution Agency launched an investigation into László Csatáry’s suspected involvement in war crimes. On 18 July 2012 the Hungarian authorities questioned Csatáry and detained him under suspicion of war crimes; he has been under house arrest since his detention.

On Monday the Slovakian Ministry of Justice announced that it had sent documents from the 1948 trial to a court in Košice, requesting the Slovak judiciary to contact the Hungarian judiciary with the aim of putting Mr. Csatáry on trial in Slovakia.

This procedure is determined by European regulations, according to which if the Slovakian judiciary issues a European arrest warrant, the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice will forward it to the Budapest Municipal Court without taking any other action. The Budapest Municipal Court has the authority to decide on implementation of a European arrest warrant, but the Minister of Public Administration and Justice does not have any such authority in this case. The Municipal Court may refuse to carry out the European arrest warrant and surrender the suspect if criminal proceedings based on the same grounds are also under way in Hungary.

The Ministry wishes to make it clear that at present no European arrest warrant has been received, and it has no knowledge of such a warrant having been issued.

In relation to this case, on 23 July Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that ‘Hungary abides by European legislative tradition,’ according to which ‘there is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity.’

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)