Transferring cases at Hungary's courts to resolve backlogs can only serve as a temporary solution, the deputy prime minister told the press on Friday.

Relieving work burden on courts in Budapest and in its vicinity will be resolved by setting up two courts in the capital, Tibor Navracsics, who is also Minister of Public Administration and Justice, said after receiving Dean Spielmann, the President of the European Court of Human Rights.

Minister Navracsics added their talks focussed on the long court procedures as 75 percent of ongoing cases concerning Hungary in Strasbourg are related to this issue. The European court generally awards reparations to Hungarians who lodge a complaint at the European forum due to drawn-out cases. In the last ten years, Hungary had to settle such claims worth of 1 billion forints (EUR 33,500), Minister Navracsics added.

Preliminary works have already got under way to set up the new courts and an agreement on this with the EU is close, he added.

In recent times, some criminals who had admitted their responsibility for serious crimes had to be released from preliminary detention because the court could not make an initial ruling in their cases within the legally stipulated deadline due to backlogs. Transferring cases is therefore also required to guarantee legal safety and stability, he added.
He said he had asked the president of the National Judicial Office to provide reason for the backlog and to come forward with recommendations to solve it.

Spielmann, who is in Hungary on the Minister’s invitation, is also scheduled to meet the heads of the supreme court or Kuria, the National Judicial Office and the Constitutional Court, and the chief public prosecutor.
He told Minister Navracsics after meeting that he was glad he would be able to meet all important representatives of Hungary's administration of justice.

(MTI, Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)