Post by yeni on Jul 8, 2008 14:03:40 GMT -5
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/217632,wearing-a-red-star-in-hungary-is-a-basic-human.html
"Wearing a red star in Hungary 'is a basic human right'
Posted on : 2008-07-08 | Author : DPA
News Category : Europe
Strasbourg - Wearing a red star - the maligned symbol of erstwhile communist rule - is a "basic human right" in Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday. It said a ruling by a Hungarian court eight years ago convicting a 45-year-old representative of the leftist Workers' party at a Budapest rally violated freedom of expression.
The Strasbourg-based human rights court ruled that the state could restrict freedom of expression "within the framework of political discussion only in special, clearly-defined circumstances."
In this particular case, the politician had worn the red star clearly as a symbol of his political opinion.
Hungarian law forbids the wearing and exhibiting of so-called "symbols of the rule of force" such as the red star, hammer and sickle, or swastika.
The court said that although human rights violations under communism had discredited the red star, Hungary had proved over the past 20 years that it had become a stable democracy.
This meant there was no reason to fear any political party seeking to restore a communist dictatorship."
see also on the site of the European Court of Human Rights:
cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=vajnai&sessionid=11495385&skin=hudoc-pr-en
And the article in the Hungarian Criminal Code:
"Use of Symbols of Despotism
Section 269/B
(1) The person who
a) distributes;
b) uses before great publicity;
c) exhibits in public;
a swastika, the SS sign, an arrow-cross, sickle and hammer, a five-pointed red star or a symbol depicting the above, -
unless a graver crime is realized - commits a misdemeanour, and shall be punishable with fine.
(2) The person, who commits the act defined in subsection (1) for the purposes of the dissemination of knowledge,
education, science, or art, or with the purpose of information about the events of history or the present time, shall not be
punishable.
(3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) do not extend to the official symbols of states in force.
(4)"
So should these symbols be legal in Hungary? or should there be a difference in the legality of commie and nazi symbols?
"Wearing a red star in Hungary 'is a basic human right'
Posted on : 2008-07-08 | Author : DPA
News Category : Europe
Strasbourg - Wearing a red star - the maligned symbol of erstwhile communist rule - is a "basic human right" in Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday. It said a ruling by a Hungarian court eight years ago convicting a 45-year-old representative of the leftist Workers' party at a Budapest rally violated freedom of expression.
The Strasbourg-based human rights court ruled that the state could restrict freedom of expression "within the framework of political discussion only in special, clearly-defined circumstances."
In this particular case, the politician had worn the red star clearly as a symbol of his political opinion.
Hungarian law forbids the wearing and exhibiting of so-called "symbols of the rule of force" such as the red star, hammer and sickle, or swastika.
The court said that although human rights violations under communism had discredited the red star, Hungary had proved over the past 20 years that it had become a stable democracy.
This meant there was no reason to fear any political party seeking to restore a communist dictatorship."
see also on the site of the European Court of Human Rights:
cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=vajnai&sessionid=11495385&skin=hudoc-pr-en
And the article in the Hungarian Criminal Code:
"Use of Symbols of Despotism
Section 269/B
(1) The person who
a) distributes;
b) uses before great publicity;
c) exhibits in public;
a swastika, the SS sign, an arrow-cross, sickle and hammer, a five-pointed red star or a symbol depicting the above, -
unless a graver crime is realized - commits a misdemeanour, and shall be punishable with fine.
(2) The person, who commits the act defined in subsection (1) for the purposes of the dissemination of knowledge,
education, science, or art, or with the purpose of information about the events of history or the present time, shall not be
punishable.
(3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) do not extend to the official symbols of states in force.
(4)"
So should these symbols be legal in Hungary? or should there be a difference in the legality of commie and nazi symbols?